Talks will take place tomorrow between the Professional Insurance Brokers' Association and Hibernian Insurance over what the association claims are plans by the insurer to terminate the agencies of more than 60 brokers.

The association says the brokers are to lose their agencies because they are not generating business of more than £50,000 a year. "At the moment we're in discussions with Hibernian and we'll do everything we can to vigorously defend our members' livelihoods," said the association's chief executive, Mr Dermot Kelly. But he said the association would not seek a boycott of Hibernian's general insurance, life insurance and pension products, which some members had called for following the association's annual general meeting last week.

Mr Kelly was critical of Hibernian's approach to the matter and described its actions as both unreasonable and arbitrary. "I don't think it is necessary for them to cancel agencies. They could allow for a period of consolidation to meet this criteria," he said.

However, Hibernian's head of customer relations and marketing, Mr Ciaran Mahon, said the review of agents was normal business practice and that brokers would be given an opportunity to present a business case to the insurer, but said it had not mentioned a £50,000 general business threshold.

"I wouldn't be aware of a figure of that size," he said. "From a criteria point of view we wouldn't just look at the revenue. We would be very interested in the size of the account at the moment, obviously the profitability, an ability to come up with a business plan and an ability to show an investment in their businesses for development."