Insurance People October 2015

insurancepeople

Cover artwork: Carol Newman

issue 57 October 2015

Will Price See page 8 Insurance People inside include:

Reg Brown

Selwyn Fernandes

Stuart Lawrence

Paul Lumley

John Sims

Jane Gould Des O’Connor

Neil Williams

rance “The Insu ith ew Magazin ty” Personali

For us, more product choice doesn’t mean less delivery.

And that’s a promise.

If we can’t keep a promise, we don’t make it. So when we say we’re delivering even more, we really mean it. Access to more decision makers. A business partnership that gives you more. More product choice for your customers.

You want more from your insurance provider so that’s what we’re giving you. And that’s a promise.

For information about our Personal and Commercial products please call your Ageas Account Executive or visit ageas.co.uk

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surance “The In with ne Magazi ity” Personal

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leader

leader

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How did we all end up in ‘insurance’?

Editor and Publisher

Consultant Editor

Andrew Newman

Brian Susman

October 2015

In this issue

he more insurance people you talk to… the more obvious it becomes that insurance was NOT the calling most of us envisaged when setting out in search of a future career, looking for job satisfaction, good prospects, nice people, good bonhomie and, of course, worthwhile reward.

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insurancepeople issue 57 October 2015

Commercial Director

Production Director

Jeni Hall

Adrian Susman

Editorial

Andrew Newman FCII, Dip.M andrewnewman@talk21.com 01892 730539 Design & Production

Adrian Susman adrian@insurancepeople.uk.com 07981 993974 Cover artwork: Carol Newman

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The industry’s quest for “talent” can sometimes hint at perceived shortcomings among current incumbents, especially when coupled with the grail of high academic achievement.

But talent and skills apply at all levels in this business.

Insurance has always thrived on turning ambitious school leavers into specialised talents, and today’s roles need a great deal more humanity than just a string of letters after your name.

Will Price

Cover artwork: Carol Newman

That theme reappears in this month’s edition of Insurance People. It features as a particular conversation item for two of this month’s interviewees, and there’s also a light-hearted look at this conundrum on page 28.

See page 8

2

Late news

3

Market talk

6

The VW scandal Paul Lumley, Clyde & Co

Commercial Director

Jeni Hall jeni@insurancepeople.uk.com 07969 510172

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The Postcard Emporium

www.insurancepeople.uk.com

8 Printers

Interview Will Price, BGL Group

Pensord Magazines & Periodicals Tram Road, Pontllanfraith, Blackwood NP12 2YA

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insurancepeople PO Box 537 Tonbridge Kent TN12 9WG t 01562 862990 m 07981 993974 e adrian@insurancepeople.uk.com

Reg Brown

Take Five Selwyn Fernandes, LV=

4

Stuart Lawrence believes others could learn from insurance reward schemes

10

Selwyn Fernandes wants to give customers what they want

12

John Sims, Consultant

14

Also find us on:

Interview

Coaching Neil Williams, NVW Solutions

15

News

26

On the move

ISSN 2043-9202 Insurance People is published monthly by Buttermere Wedge Publishing Limited.

While every attempt has been made to ensure that the information contained within this publication is accurate, the publisher accepts no liability for information published in error, or for views expressed. All rights for Insurance People magazine are reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without prior permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited.

Who’s going where?

12

John Sims prefers a risk to be underwritten before the claim

14

Neil Williams has been reading about Quiet Leadership

28

On the Road The Editor learns to fly

OCTOBER 2015 insurancepeople 1

insurancepeople

Late News

AA GetDriving telematics n association with insurethebox, The AA Driving School has launched AA GetDriving, a telematics motor insurance policy for pupils who have just passed their test and are buying their first car.

AA GetDriving is offered exclusively to AA Driving School pupils from 28 September. The deal means that insurethebox becomes the sole provider of telematics car insurance to the AA Driving School.

Cover is available to drivers over 17 who have had lessons with the AADriving School and is not available through price comparison websites.

With AA GetDriving, customers start by buying 6,000 miles. If the allocation is about to run out, they receive text notifications. They can then buy top-up miles in bundles of 250, 500, 1,000 or 2,000 miles and any unused top-up miles can be rolled over to the following year. The box fitting is carried out at no extra cost and Accident Alert, theft recovery and a dedicated portal are also included.

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in association with

“Market pressure” cuts Swinton profit or the year to the end of 2014, Swinton has reported “market pressures” resulting in turnover down to £285.0 million (£304.7m), operating profit of £24.2m (£25.5m) and post-tax profit 49% higher at £20.9m, these results reflecting “ … significant capital investment in IT systems and ongoing strategic review”.

Commenting on the results, Swinton chief executive Gilles Normand said: “These figures represent a creditable performance in the context of a highly competitive

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market and a year of transition for Swinton.

Although new business was written at a lower margin, it is pleasing to note that renewal rates held up well.

“To build for the future and continue to provide great service for our customers, we invested heavily in our IT systems, rolling out a new telephony system and data centre. We also launched our improved website, rebranded the business as Swinton Insurance and returned to national television advertising.”

Mobile tracker health data from LifeQuote ifeQuote, the protection portal and administration service from DirectLife, expects to see insurers include health tracking data for protection pricing along the same lines as has been adopted for PMI policies. It is therefore reviewing how best to capture health tracking data from the likes of the Apple watch or FitBit. The company comments, “Currently, no

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protection insurer writing UK business uses individuals’ health tracking to price policies at outset, although engagement with the Vitality program during the policy term can certainly reduce premiums. However, when the market starts to integrate it into their underwriting, it will require standardised formats in order to be used for pricing comparisons.

LifeQuote will be consulting

with insurers to understand their likely future requirements and develop a standardised way of recording the data.”

Neil McCarthy, sales and marketing director, LifeQuote, adds. “The PMI market is rapidly adopting mobile health tracking as a way of setting premiums. We would expect protection providers to look at including this information as part of

their pricing strategy, or to look at accessing other data to help offer appropriately targeted life and health products to customers.

However, this will require a standardised approach in the future if it is also going to be used to compare prices across products and providers. We are therefore engaging with insurers now to at least investigate the likely future requirements.”

Brokerslink New York conference ndependent broking delegates managing a combined insurance premium volume in excess of USD 20 billion are expected to participate in this year’s Brokerslink Global Conference in New York on the 15th and 16th of October.

Emanating from over 75 countries, the delegates will be joined by representatives from leading insurers and risk services providers, including Chubb, Generali, AXA and STARR.

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2 insurancepeople OCTOBER 2015

The first day of the conference is for Brokerslink members only and will focus on delegates working together to further develop their global insurance broking company and challenge the current wave of consolidators.

Friday, 16 October is the main conference day and will be open to all members of the global insurance market.

The diverse range of themes to be covered will include the major evolutionary trends in cyber risk and international employee benefits.

market talk

in association with:

Andrew Newman

Recruitment drive at BGL B

GL Group are seeking to engage insurance people with underwriting skills to help further develop the relationships with their insurer partners. During the interview that appears this month on Page 8, BGL’s Will Price alerted me to this current recruitment opportunity specifically aimed at people with underwriting or pricing experience. “We are enhancing our team in the technical insurance area, and believe we can create a very productive dialogue with our insurers if we can engage them on a peer-to-peer basis. And that’s why we’re currently recruiting and looking for people with these appropriate skills.”

See www.bglgroup.co.uk

Wesleyan CEO receives honorary doctorate esleyan chief executive Craig Errington is pictured here after receiving an Honorary Doctorate from Birmingham City University in recognition of his contribution to the finance sector. The graduation ceremony for the university’s Faculty of Business, Law and Social

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Craig Errington

Sciences took place at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall.

Brightside comment on RAC Motor Report 2015 t’s been a bad year for rural road potholes. Most of these (at least in my neck of the woods) have now been tarred over, but there was a particularly nasty one opposite my home. It cried out for a bit of community spirit to expedite a temporary repair with sand and soil, but I never seemed to get around to it. Then, hit with a sudden burst of enthusiasm between deadlines I was all set to go… when a newspaper report came to my eye where similar zeal from a resident in another part of the country resulted in a prosecution from his local council!

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“The university has a thriving business school,” says Craig. “And the work they do in preparing students, giving them a vital sense of innovation and inspiration, is essential to the development of businesses in the UK. It was an honour to be given the opportunity to talk to the graduates as they embark on their careers. I wanted to explain that there are always opportunities in business, even in the toughest of times.”

Brightside Car chief commercial officer, Des O’Connor recently provided a clue to the Brightside motor strategy when commenting on the UK pothole picture. “Many of our customers are dependent on their vehicles and use rural roads on a daily basis.

Maintaining UK roads is not only essential for the economy and road safety, but as pressures on premiums rise, managing road conditions could play a key role in keeping motor premiums at bay for consumers.”

Birmingham-based mutual Wesleyan is a specialist market for doctors, dentists, lawyers and teachers, and Craig Errington has been CEO for ten years.

Commenting on the RAC Report on Motoring 2015 he says, “The number of people relying on their cars shows no sign of slowing, so it’s concerning that over half of motorists questioned believe

Des O’Connor

the condition of local roads has deteriorated in the past year.

“Some more optimistic findings came in the responses to green motor technology. At Brightside Car we’re firm believers in the potential of green transport so we were interested to see that, whilst only 2% of drivers rated environmental concerns as a key issue, one in five (19%) drivers would consider a hybrid or electric vehicle next if it had lower running costs.

“Around 40% of motorists said running costs were the main factor in purchase decisions. With the fuel duty freeze due to come to an end next year, this presents a huge opportunity for the green sector, and at Brightside we’re keeping a keen eye on those technologies that could make green transport an affordable alternative so that when consumers turn to green, we’re ready to support them.”

OCTOBER 2015 insurancepeople 3

market talk M&S surveys insurance methods Jane Gould completes 25

M&S look at customer retention recent survey relating to customer acquisition and retention carried out by M&S for Business looked into the way companies in the financial sector attract new customers – and keep them.

As well as surveying customers, the survey scrutinised the insurance industry to try to discover what makes for a successful acquisition and retention strategy.

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The head of M&S for Business, Stuart Lawrence highlights the reason for examining insurance methods in particular. “We know that the insurance sector is one where it can be most difficult to encourage customer retention. We feel that the results of this research are transferrable to other sectors within the financial industry and provide an interesting insight into a customer’s perception.

“With insurance usually being an annual purchase and most people hunting for the best priced policies, it can be hard for an insurance company to offer a unique service. With this in mind, we have carried out this research to discover what qualifies as a successful customer acquisition and retention strategy within the industry and found that reward schemes are something that is seen as value for a customer.”

The survey confirmed that three quarters of people would change insurers to a company offering the same product at the same price – as long as they gave them a loyalty reward scheme too.

While 95% of respondents said price was one of the

most important factors when deciding what policy to buy, only 55% said price was the sole reason.

“That suggests that in such a competitive industry a loyalty or reward scheme to add value to a policy could improve chances of takeup,” says Stuart. “Industry experts agreed, and most insurers quizzed said they already ran some sort of reward scheme.

“But the survey also revealed that almost half (45%) of respondents did not know if their insurer offered a reward scheme or not. It suggests that communicating the scheme on offer to customers is just as important as the scheme itself.

Stuart Lawrence

“As with any relationship in life, the one between business and consumer needs to be nurtured and approached delicately. That is why research and planning are imperative to the success of a reward scheme. If you get it right, you can build relationships and create brand advocates who will stay with you for a lifetime.”

The full document can be found at: http://marksandspencerforbusiness.com/insights/acquisition-retention-schemes/

Loyalty - the alternative for ‘long service’ C ongratulations to IT specialist SSP’s training and implementation

Jane Gould

4 insurancepeople OCTOBER 2015

manager Jane Gould on her recent 25 year loyalty award.

Long service awards are a long-lived institution, but we live in a changing world – one that not only sweeps aside dogma and old methodology, but also brings with it questions of equality. Who would have thought the day would come when the proverbial ‘gold watch’ loyalty presentation could run into cultural and regulatory issues such as age discrimination legislation?

The SSP press release confirms how they have avoided that pitfall. The awards format is decided by an employee forum, and staff across all SSP's global offices are involved in a tangible and realistic business proposal that helps colleagues feel valued and appreciated.

Commenting on the whole process HR and transformation director Clare Bates says, "The outcome of the forum is a real example

of our employees taking ownership of an issue, collaborating together and delivering a great and sustainable outcome for SSP across the world."

And the last word for Jane Gould: "I think that these awards are a really nice gesture – it really shows that the company is recognising people for what they do, whether they've been here for five years or 35 years!"

I blame that Alan Cleary. After his erudite pricki ng of a few bubbles in his article Some mild annoy ances in the September IP, I feel an attack of the grum ps coming on. You might find that some of the following register a rather indigestible feeling of deja-v u in your life too.

in association with:

Plastic packaging that simply cannot be torn apart – or cut open

It’s good to share interview

Football teams that grow successful simply by spending obscene millions Nuisance phone calls

ry Alan Clea

Footballers who spit – and still “earn” millio

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ter by their charac humour who reveal the clearly as nothing so . ent res y the ain me nt” on “en tert 14. Tele visi bra ind ead on the . the “co uch es” dro ss for as. I me an nat ion ’s sof n. the Pot ato es, ony Ant s ted one 15. The ous ley, Vin ce rtin Wh eat s.

Jen kin s, Ma s will be boy Ca ble . Boy d the ir

here’s a certain therapeutic comfort in sharing many of today’s daily irritants with others.

Letting off steam on Facebook, Twitter, Mums.net or wherever can help lower stress. The calming effect of Alan Cleary’s knack of pinpointing many of these “mild annoyances” (as in last month’s IP) is a case in point, and has inspired the IP Consultant Editor to not only compile his own list, but to share it with the readership who are encouraged to tick the boxes they respond to. Be careful not to break that pencil!

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My inability to remember what happened yesterday, let alone last week Lazy use of the English language; e.g. “halfeight” instead of “half-past eight” TV actors who mumble Drivers who appear to want to get in the back of my car with me Temporary road signs that get left out for month

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Cricketers who “sledge” The child next door who simply screams to gain attention Nuisance phone calls The trees at the bottom of the garden that insist on getting taller The mobile phones that are taking over the world

That ‘D’ word again T his month there’s a Global Summit for Insurance Innovation taking place in Madrid featuring … and I quote… “disruptive innovations in insurance” driven by emerging business and distribution models, with case studies from “disruptive companies including Blasting News, Carrot Insurance, FLUO, InsPeer, and Supermoney”.

The greatest impact of ‘disruption’ is said to be about to hit the insurance sector, with “emerging forces driven by technological innovations putting pressure on insurers”.

Back in 1989 I was a ‘disruptive’ influence according to my colleagues at the insurer I was then working for, although their definition of the ‘D’ word was more akin to the traditional interpretation of that word. Invited to deliver an in-house presentation on how I thought personal insurance would evolve over the next decades, it drew a puzzled, rather than hostile response. “But Andrew, what you’re suggesting means the end of underwriting as we know it.”

I took that as a compliment.

Back in 1989 it fell on stony ground, but it did appear as a freelance article in Post Magazine.

NHS managers who cannot recognise devote d front-line staff when they see it Wood pigeons that wake me at ungodly hours Tear-off strips on sauce bottles that won't tear

off

Electricity and gas suppliers' multitude of “tariffs” that no-one understands The increasingly large proportion of the popula ce who believe there is such a letter as “haitch” Nuisance phone calls The increasing disappearance of road signs as untrimmed trees and hedges take over Misuse of “it's” instead of “its”. It's only “it's” when it's short for “it is” – got it?

Oh yes … and nuisance phone calls There. I feel better now. That's got that little lot off my chest. But I'm sure that there will be a whole lot of others along any minute now.

Brian Susman, Consultant Editor

OCTOBER 2015 insurancepeople 5

product recall

Ian Plumley PARTNER CLYDE & CO

The VW case “likely to prove very complex”

VW scandal – the implications?

Ian Plumley considers the implications of the Volkswagen emissions test scandal both for insurers and the automotive industry he ultimate cost to the insurance market of responding to the VW product recall, regulatory inquiries, criminal investigations and prosecutions, shareholder class actions, and other fallout across the automobile industry could be huge.

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It’s reported that VW has set aside US$6.5bn for the costs of the emissions-rigging scandal, but many commentators estimate that this may fall well short of the $18bn expected in fines.

There will also be a significant reputational damage to VW, who will be looking carefully at their insurance policies to establish if any cover is available. Product recall and directors' and officers' (D&O) are likely to be their starting point.

The VW case is likely to prove very complex. Is it the car itself, or a piece of software, or the manipulation to achieve a result that is at the heart of this case? If it is the latter involving deliberate tampering, then I believe that will be the main liability.

There may also be an environmental liability, but that might be difficult to prove in respect of damage being caused by a particular vehicle. he product recall angle is an interesting situation because it doesn’t involve a safety issue. The traditional approach requires

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6 insurancepeople OCTOBER 2015

imminent prospect of either personal injury or property damage. Neither of those things is in contemplation here. This is a potential recall to fix something that renders a car illegal.

So it’s a completely different scenario to one that motor manufacturers and their insurers are normally used to.

Many manufacturers in the motor industry tend to retain a lot of their recall risk in-house or within captives – so it is a question as to how much of that risk has been placed in the insurance market.

The D&O sphere is going to be impacted too. I believe there are a number of exposures there, and clearly criminal and regulatory sanctions may be on their way, both in the USA and Europe.

The case is also unusual in that VW have acted swiftly to attempt to deaden the impact as best they could. The horse has bolted to some extent and the CEO has resigned.

When discussing this article with the Editor, he asked me if the existence of a ‘rogue player’ within the VW organisation might come to light in a case like this.

I think the fact that these admissions have come from the very top is revealing in itself. If there was such a ‘rogue player’ it would be expected for there to have been a ‘creep’ of information for investigative reasons.

The CEOs in both the US and the group holding company have come out and said “we did this”. That is indeed very revealing. It’s unusual, and to a certain extent I think to be commended in a company like VW. A lot of companies would let this run out and see where it ultimately lands.

For VW to attack it head-on in the way they have is commendable. I’m not suggesting it’s out of character with the way a lot of automotive companies behave, but it’s not exactly the norm. If you think of some of the issues that automotive companies have delayed in the recent past – a reported wait of 18 months before carrying out a recall involving cyber hacking, and other similar accusations – it strikes me that VW have acted much more quickly. That’s probably a recognition that they had to get it right, and done very quickly bearing in mind how otherwise badly damaged the brand might be.

Ian Plumley, Partner at Clyde & Co, has extensive experience in the insurance sector and in complex international coverage, defence, and subrogation disputes. He has also advised on global automotive manufacturer product liability and recall, and commercial litigation matters for many years.

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24-hour travel insurance policy postcard from the Reg Brown Collection by Ocean Accident & Guarantee Corporation.

The date is October 1956 and Gűnther Heyd is insuring himself for £2,000 capital sum for the price of 20p, possibly travelling home to Hamburg on one of the

“Don’t look down” German transatlantic liners that used to call in at Southampton. Claims have to be reported to the agents – C T Bowring – and the familiar insurance lair at 52 Leadenhall Street - still intact today – gets a mention.

The postage stamps are printed on the card, and what cost half a penny in 1912 has now quadrupled to tuppence by 1956.

Published by Co-operative Insurance in 2002, this historic postcard celebrates the 40th Anniversary of the construction of the CIS Miller Street building in Manchester in 1962.

“Known as ‘spider men’, these workers have no fear, and regularly walk along the cranes unhindered by safety lines” the rear of the card declares.

Not a safety harness, hard hat, high visibility jacket in sight. In fact, the only sop to what later became known as “health & safety” is the guy in the foreground who has belted his jacket to prevent any snagging risk.

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OCTOBER 2015 insurancepeople 7

In association with:

We now pronounce you...

The great majority of the luminaries in today’s insurance world will tell you that insurance wasn’t necessarily on their radar when seeking out that first door of opportunity towards their subsequent insurance career path.

But once on board, they not only survived the ordeal, but thrived on the opportunities.

Result: A marriage for life. Wedded bliss. For better or worse.

In association with Markerstudy Group, Insurance People presents a series of interviews featuring some of the insurance people happy to have pledged their troth to this industry

Will Price Director of Insurance and Aggregation, BGL Group Fully geared up for a career in engineering, Will Price discovered that the sector’s graduate recruitment market had shrunk in 1993. So he took a ‘temporary’ job at Budget Insurance – and went on to help transform that organisation from a personal lines insurer into the entity that it is today

AN: So even though you joined BGL straight from university, insurance wasn’t originally on your career agenda?

WP: No, it wasn’t. In fact, in all my time I’ve only ever met two people who decided to go into insurance from the outset. It wasn’t something I set out to do when I completed my degree, but as soon as I joined Budget I found that I enjoyed it immensely, and decided not only to stay on, but make it my career.

There are quite a few parallels between insurance and engineering in terms of the technical and analytical thinking, plus the development of relationships and partnerships that build up over time.

AN: You joined BGL (or Budget Insurance as it then was) at a crucial 8 insurancepeople OCTOBER 2015

point in its history. From the UK launch of its South African risk carrier model, came the surprise shift into intermediary status. Was that an embarrassing U-turn?

WP: At the time I joined, Budget Insurance Co was indeed an underwriter. The strategic shift from risk carrier to intermediary wasn’t at all embarrassing, but it was certainly a brave move to make at the time.

We’ve always been pretty open about the shift and the South African parentage was quite important – a different market to ours where motor insurance isn’t compulsory. I think the factor that wasn’t fully appreciated at the time was the cyclical nature of the UK market, with Budget entering at a low point in the cycle. If that had been better understood, it’s possible it

would have come good over time, had we stuck with it for a bit longer.

In many ways Budget Insurance was a research and development exercise, but it helped make the decision to move from carrier to pure broking and then on to becoming a multi-faceted general insurance distributor.

AN: Just going back for a moment to the pure intermediary status, how did that role kick off?

WP: Iron Trades was the first insurer to come on board. Then Zenith, Highway, and Holdsure. The model we offered (which still applies for some of our current insurers) was that we would build all the schemes on our own software platform. So the business needed someone to set up this team, and basically take

AN: When did you first get to know Markerstudy?

WP: When we became an intermediary, Zenith (now part of the Markerstudy Group) were one of the early carriers, and from small acorns… etc. They are today an important trading partner of ours.

responsibility for all the schemes on our platform. Then, as more insurers got involved, it all got a bit bigger and that’s when I was offered the opportunity to take on technological responsibility, and I later became head of product development.

AN: How much work does that scheme model place upon BGL? WP: The model is really flexible. We develop all of the administration systems, handling all of the onboarding, renewal processing and the like. We take the first notification of loss (FNOL) too. To those who want it, we provide data enrichment at point of quote and renewal. We can build a scheme from a paper specification, or we can pipe in insurer-hosted schemes, and operate all manner of variations in between.

It’s fair to say we probably do a bit more than the average broker.

AN: And in that widened role – acting more as a distributor rather than as a traditional broker – how has your own personal role changed?

WP: Nowadays I’m responsible for everything related to our capacity from all the insurers on our panels, whether it’s large composites, smaller mono-lines, MGAs, all our add-on providers, and the claims supply chain, vehicle hire etc. Plus our relationships with the comparison sites.

AN: So in fact you are the ‘face’ of BGL among all these suppliers?

WP: Kind of. The, “it’s more suitable for radio” phrase has been used more than once though.

AN: So where is your new role taking BGL? WP: My role is to supply progressive comparison, capacity and claims solutions which are valued by

We work with them on car and van, and we also utilise Auto Windscreens as our preferred glass provider. We also administer their Zenith Direct scheme through the Junction corporate partnerships part of our business.

Markerstudy are also on the majority of our insurer panels. It’s quite a sizeable relationship.

They are happy to push the envelope. Like BGL, they like to be progressive and to be innovative. A recent example is their push on the insurer hosted rating model. They weren’t the first to do it, but what they managed to do is to develop the overall model, host it very efficiently in the Cloud, and drive things on to enrich the underwriting data, and make the model really work.

AN: And how do you get on with Markerstudy on the personal side?

WP: I think I know Kevin Spencer and Gary Humphreys pretty well now and I respect both of them. Having read previous articles in this series, I can endorse the complementary skills they possess. I admire Kevin’s pure entrepreneurial spirit and ability to structure deals and the way that complements Gary’s ability to cut through all the numbers.

And it’s always good fun dealing with them. My mind goes back to the Auto Windscreens deal where Kevin and I were still batting ideas back and forth late into the night. The banter was in full flow whilst trying to get that deal done, and eventually we got there. And it turned out to be a great decision.

customers and transform commercial outcomes. BGL has managed to become quite proficient in the role that we now play in the insurance value chain. I see the model continuing to develop over time, with a one billion pound GWP target very feasible. BGL has always been successful in hitting the fairly aggressive targets that it sets for itself.

For that reason I rather like the position that we occupy. Clearly we cannot be successful unless we have great partnerships with our insurers and our other capacity providers.

That’s where my eyes are looking to at this particular moment in time continued growth, but mutually profitable for us and our insurer partners.

‘Co-opertition’ The neologism ‘Co-opertition’ proved useful in this conversation when it came to the complicated relationship that BGL enjoys with some of its business partners.

Will Price: It’s a word we use a lot. It’s true to say we ‘enjoy’ collaboration, co-operation, and competition with our partners. For instance many brands compete on BGL’s Comparethemarket.com panel alongside our in-house brands, our partner brands, and Markerstudy’s brands too. One of those Markerstudy brands is Zenith Direct which BGL operates in partnership with Markerstudy, competing right alongside our in-house Budget and Dial brands – both of which Markerstudy provide capacity for!

It’s a really interesting arrangement, with lots of reliance on each other.

OCTOBER 2015 insurancepeople 9

interview

Selwyn Fernandes MANAGING DIRECTOR LV= DIRECT GENERAL INSURANCE

Take Five The first of two early-career coincidences revealed during preliminary conversation between Selwyn Fernandes and the Editor was that ‘insurance’ was never on the agenda at the beginning. Nothing unusual in that.

But the second match-up was the attraction of a railway career, based in London. Selwyn headed off to Euston in 1987 for a six-year stint in operational research planning with BR, while - a good number of years earlier - the Editor ducked out of an admin job at Paddington which would have extended his daily commute onto the Circle Line.

Instead he opted in favour of a slightly better paid ‘temporary’ appointment in insurance in Bury Street, EC3.

But both parties were destined to receive ‘the call’ – both to become heavily involved in personal lines.

But whereas one delved in the intermediary market, the other became a direct writer AN: Selwyn, having qualified in Maths and Operational Research at university, and joining British Rail, you must have worked on some exciting projects?

SF: Yes, the remit covered a wide range. I carried out work on rail freight, planning for the Channel Tunnel, and reliability planning for the whole national railway network.

AN: But after six years you found yourself working at Direct Line?

SF: I felt I needed a change. Working for a nationalised industry in a corporate function is quite 10 insurancepeople OCTOBER 2015

constraining. I wanted to aim for a bit more independence. A much more empowered role, in a different industry – perhaps just to prove to myself that I could do it! I was already living in Croydon at that point and that’s how I came to know Direct Line.

AN: That was in 1993, BDL+7!

“Before Direct Line” (a timeline marker engraved in the minds of all personal lines people who worked through that period). DL was seven years in and just approaching the millionth policyholder mark. I remember it well. There’d been a lot of misunderstanding from the

mainstream market about the future of direct writing. A lot of people still believed it wouldn’t succeed. “Wait until they get to the million policyholder level – then they’ll get bogged down in the corporate legacies - just like the rest of us.”

SF: That’s right. Even when it dawned that direct writing was here to stay, much of the market’s confusion still lingered on. There wasn’t always a precise understanding as to the exact nature of the revolution that had been achieved. It was more than just ditching face-to-face contact in favour of the telephone. Neither was

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Reducing the distance between us and the customer

it a case of simply “cutting out the middleman”. Or indeed, just the creation of a new distribution channel.

AN: So, if it wasn’t those things alone, what was the real key to that successful business model?

SF: The overall aim was to “reduce the distance between us and the customer” - and doing everything on a single platform. That was the key. It gave a lower expense base with a low expense ratio. There were none of the multiple systems and heavy distribution costs that other insurers had at that time.

AN: I like that phrase, “Reducing the distance between us and the customer” –it sums everything up.

SF: It gave customers what they wanted. A much easier handling process (especially at renewal) along with the opportunity to enjoy competitive premiums and save money on their insurance buying.

AN: Moving on with your career, Direct Line became RBS Insurance and you left after 13 years to join LV=, now finding yourself working alongside colleagues who were involved in the intermediary market.

How did LV= avoid the problems many traditional market players suffered from at that time? I’m talking about the internal demarcation barriers often associated with attempts to successfully mix the various channels of distribution into a common workplace experience.

SF: When I first joined LV= I didn’t belong to any one particular channel.

And the barriers that you speak of didn’t exist. The aims between the various channels were identical – to give customers what they wanted, and in the way they wanted it. So

anything that you do in one distribution channel, you can offer in the others. It’s a two-way process, and it means that LV= can benefit from shared learning across all distribution channels.

AN: What about the ‘old chestnuts’ of multi-channel distribution? One channel pinching business from another? Or one brand being favoured to the detriment of another?

Not to mention confusing, and even upsetting customers?

SF: It’s not an issue. At the end of the day it’s all about customer preference. But of course, I take your point. We don’t favour one channel over another, and that process must be properly handled. We need to ensure fair pricing for each channel.

Each one has to bear its own costs – and the allocation of corporate costs has to be as fair as possible.

But the overall result of sharing the workplace experience in that way benefits us, and it benefits our customers. It allows us to be very responsive to market trends and it leads to a much more sustainable business model.

AN: At the present time you run the general business LV= direct distribution channel as managing director and are responsible for marketing, e-commerce, pricing, and product and partnership management. How relevant does the earlier mentioned “Reducing the distance between us and the customer” ethos remain today?

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make it happen. Identifying such opportunities is a continuous, ongoing process. It involves everyone in the organisation, and it’s embedded in our culture. Another part of the ongoing process is of course to identify up-to-the-minute, one-off opportunities to assist customers - sometimes even when insurance as such isn’t the central issue.

AN: Yes, I recall some problems at the Passport Office where LV= stepped in last year.

SF: Yes, that’s a good example of really putting customers at the heart of everything. There were some considerable delays in the Passport Office in June 2014 that resulted in thousands of travellers being prevented from travelling even when they had made their passport application in good time. We quickly made the decision that existing customers who had to cancel their holidays as a result of these delays would be covered.

The majority of customers don’t forget that sort of help, and I’m pleased to say many of ours haven’t either.

SF: Very relevant. It’s still a highly valid theme. Often referred to today as “Putting customers at the heart of everything you do”. And that applies to all customers collectively; to customer groups; and to individuals.

But while it’s an easy aim to state, there’s a lot of hard work needed to OCTOBER 2015 insurancepeople 11

interview

John Sims CONSULTANT

Take Five Continuous professional development has always existed in the insurance fraternity, but became ‘official’ when the CII kicked it off. What does it mean? Well, one way of looking at it is “learning something new” or “widening your horizon.”

For some people it works naturally, but not necessarily for others. Much depends on the nature of the day-job. Specialists learn their craft in fine detail throughout years of experience, but can find themselves cocooned when trapped within that specialisation. Workers in more generic fields have better opportunities to expand their knowledge into new areas, but can lack the nth degree of associated experience enjoyed in specialised areas.

The Editor talks with John Sims - who has successfully combined the best of both worlds. Starting out as a raw 16 year old, he became a high net worth specialist and since then has provided consultancy services across a wide range of business classes AN: John, having begun your 11 years with Chubb Insurance in high net worth, did you appreciate at the time that you were absorbing a unique customer orientated business culture, well ahead of what the market was generally doing at that time?

JS: I think it’s only when you leave a company like Chubb that you appreciate the value of exactly how much you have actually learned. And realise that the business culture you have been brought up on is not necessarily universal within the industry at large. Chubb Insurance 12 insurancepeople OCTOBER 2015

was highly customer orientated.

Having to turn a claim down was bad news. So I’ve always been passionate about claims. And when seeing some other organisations in close-up, the initial error was to automatically assume that they would be doing things that I took for granted.

AN: But why shouldn’t insurers look for ways to turn down a claim ?

JS: Because that’s the burden that has always plagued our industry and damaged our reputation. This is where insurance invariably gets a

well-deserved rap on the knuckles for poor claims service in certain areas.

This was the very thing Mr Paxman alluded to in his exploits at BIBA in Manchester earlier this year.

And that’s because claims settlement is the insurance front window. If you’re not paying your claims properly, then there’s really no point in being in the HNW business. It’s an absolute prerequisite. You can’t provide HNW customers with anything other than the very best – dominated by the claims service.

So the task in HNW is to eliminate the possibility of such declinatures. That was the innovation that Chubb Insurance introduced. No warranties, wide coverage, and lots of comfort for the claimant.

Of course, in order to achieve this, it’s essential to underwrite the risk before inception rather than at the moment of claim – which is the way it is in the majority of business classes where the insurer only ever actually ‘sees’ the risk after the claim. How often does an insurer actually get to meet the client? A standard insurer will only ever interact when they send

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Underwrite risk before the claim

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out the loss adjuster. But the claim is more important than that – it’s an opportunity to thrill the client! To turn them into happy, longstanding customers.

The pre-inception risk appraisal is not practicable for say, low to mid-net worth contracts, but it’s ideal for HNW. It means that there’s rarely any underinsurance, nor any unknown risk factors lurking in the cupboard.

AN: What other things did you learn at Chubb Insurance that were unusual tactics at that time?

JS: One was the post-loss customer survey. It surprises me that a lot of companies still don’t do that. To me it’s just good practice. It’s all about keeping an eye on the service, because if that part slips, then you’re in trouble.

AN: Tell me about your consultancy work? How did that come about?

JS: I left Chubb Insurance in April 2007 and was later to join consumer loss recovery specialist Lorega. That allowed me to pursue my interest in claims. On leaving them two years later I got a call from David Sweeney at Sterling Insurance inviting me to

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Claims settlement is the insurance front window

“have a look under the bonnet”. That was the moment when I fell in love with the consulting role. What an honour to be invited in to consult on an existing business - already very highly thought of - with the aim to help them get even better.

And that’s how John Sims Consulting Ltd came about. I did quite a lot of work for Mitsui Sumitomo, initially looking at claims which was where my Lorega experience came in very useful. Then they asked me to look at their risk engineering management, and various other processes on an ad hoc basis.

I completed 12 months’ work for LEI insurer DAS towards their Loss Assist claims service launch, and worked with Aqueduct Underwriting, and motor claims specialists Law Shield.

And alongside a good friend of mine - Chris Blackham - we did some work for the Hyperion Group looking at Dual, their financial underwriting agency. Later we got involved in the commercial due diligence when they merged with Windsor.

That particular due diligence task was very fascinating and a real experience. One day we’d be looking at South American aviation; the next

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North American schemes; then bloodstock and so on. It proves that good practice applies in any business. It taught me that although my background had been predominantly HNW, with also being a Lloyd's broker, and an underwriter – business is business. Good practice is key to all areas.

AN: But you did, I believe, temporarily leave consultancy and go back to full time work with AIG? JS: Yes, in consultancy there’s always the option to go back to working in one business full time, and I spent two years at AIG. That was originally a consultancy contract.

AIG invited me to have a look at their private clients business, and help build a plan for investment. Then they asked me to oversee that investment and join on a full time basis.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and I’m very proud of what the team achieved in that two year period, and I think the market looks very favourably on where AIG Private Clients was, and where it is now.

AN: But you are back in consultancy again now. What do you consider to be the prime benefits a consultant can offer their client?

JS: I think it’s the sharing with others many of the lessons learned thanks to hands-on, day-to-day experience.

All the companies I have worked with contain some really good people, brilliant people in fact. But they all have one thing in common – they are very busy! They have ‘day-jobs’.

They don’t have the time to take that step back, and look across the business holistically, and think about ways to maximise their process and opportunities. A good consultant operating under solid confidentiality rules should be able to help lift that burden from their shoulders.

OCTOBER 2015 insurancepeople 13

Neil Williams

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Changing the way people think

EXECUTIVE AND CAREER COACH AND BUSINESS MENTOR NVW SOLUTIONS

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Quiet Leadership Neil Williams has been doing some holiday reading, delving into Quiet Leadership by David Rock who talks among other things - about “unleashing the potential of your team” t risk of being accused of taking my work away with me, whilst in Italy last month I read David Rock’s book Quiet Leadership. The subject is about transforming performance at work, and “unleashing the potential of your team” as one reviewer put it.

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I can recommend this book to anyone who wants to change the way they lead others, or adapt their style towards the development of their employees. For any business owner or manager it’s a good overview as to how to develop your people by changing your own style.

Our knowledge about exactly how the brain works continues to develop. There are 100 billion neurons (the primary cell for the human nervous system) in our brain, and many millions more in our heart and gut. Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to rewire itself based on where we focus our attention. The brain is highly flexible… and it is never too late to learn!

We see the world as we are, not as the world is – that quotation by Anais Nin. Our brain tries to make whatever we are sensing, or thinking, fit into our existing mental models. hanging the way people think is one of the tougher challenges of leadership as people tend to fight hard to hold on to their view of the world.

When external realities change, people’s internal realities don’t change as quickly. Given that our hardwiring in the brain is all so different, any group of people will see the same situation from substantially different perspectives.

There is a difference between a thought (a map held in our working memory) and a habit (a map that’s hardwired in the deeper parts of our brain).

I have found that managers constantly complain about the little time they have available, and how they constantly have to solve people’s problems. So with a combination of better time management, and a greater use of delegation, time can be made available to listen more, and ensure team members find their own solutions.

I won’t attempt to go through the book’s steps for transforming performance, yet so much of it is about coaching including:l

Attentive listening – listening as you have never listened before

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Staying above the detail - NOT joining the tangled forest of information

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Being succinct – thinking about the core message before speaking

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Establishing permission before discussing difficult topics – “would that be OK with you?”

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14 insurancepeople OCTOBER 2015

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Setting the contract (Rock calls it placement) takes care of the why, when, how and who of the conversation

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Quiet leaders give less advice than almost anyone on the planet! (they don’t solve people’s problems)

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Asking thinking questions means you are now focused on one thing; people’s thinking. If people are being paid to think, isn’t it about time we helped them improve their thinking?

As stated, I recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn more about coaching, whether that be changing the way they lead, or adapting their style of developing their employees. You never know this could be one of your first steps towards becoming a coach!

If, on the other hand, this is a step too far and the preference is to use a listening coach, by all means please contact neil@nvwsolutions.co.uk See also www.nvwsolutions.co.uk

In association with

insurancepeople

News

Implementing Insurance Act among top challenges

Insurers in battle with hackers

he uncertainty around the Brexit referendum, the challenge of realising value from M&A and the pitfalls in implementing the Insurance Act feature among 50 predictions made by insurance experts at international law firm DAC Beachcroft in a new insurance report.

Other predictions listed in the firm's new Insurance Market Conditions & Trends 2015/16 publication consider the potential for the 'internet of things' to reshape every stage of the insurance cycle, the new liabilities associated with 3D printing and wearable devices, and the implications for insurers of mega-cities.

he insurance sector is doing best in the battle to combat data breaches according to a survey which revealed just 17% of businesses in the sector have been hacked - but more than half still admitted losing data.

The Crown Records Management/Censuswide Survey revealed:

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The 50 predictions relate to 13 different areas of insurance business, ranging from property, marine and casualty to product liability, professional liability and reinsurance.

Referring to cyber risks, David Pollitt, partner and head of insurance at DAC Beachcroft. says, "We think evolving data protection law could really boost cyber insurance policies, with data breaches set to become more costly.

"We're also predicting that autonomous cars will herald a change of gear in assessing risk in motor claims, with greater emphasis on the vehicle," he adds.

Mitsui offer for Amlin itsui Sumitomo Insurance has agreed a cash offer to acquire Amlin for a cash consideration of 670 pence per Amlin share, valuing Amlin at around £3,468 million.

Amlin chief executive Charles Philipps says, “We believe that this combination is extremely compelling. We have always had a very high regard for MSI, our strategies and corporate values are closely aligned, and this transaction will now provide Amlin with the increased scale and financial muscle that will be required for long term success in our industry. It delivers excellent value for shareholders, improved career prospects for our employees, and enhanced continuity and security for our clients.

“I am confident that, with our combined skills and geographic coverage, we will continue to go from strength to strength. We believe that our respective Lloyd’s, Bermudian and European businesses fit well together and will allow increased development opportunities. MSI’s presence in the ASEAN region and its ambitions in the United States clearly offer very exciting prospects for Amlin.”

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55% of IT decision makers in the sector said their company had lost important data. This was far better than facilities management (75%), retail (68%) and the legal sector (69%)

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On average decision makers reported data had been lost almost twice – less than half the figure in facilities management, banking and the public sector

Ann Sellar, business development manager at Crown Records Management, says, “These survey results show the insurance sector is ahead of its rivals and that is good news. But nevertheless the overall figures should still be a wake-up call because the importance of protecting customer data is higher than ever. Not only because of potential fines for data breaches (which will soon increase when the EU General Data Protection Regulation is ratified) but also because of growing public awareness.

“It takes on average 20 years to build a reputation but just five minutes to ruin it with a data breach and then up to two years to rebuild it. So businesses need to look at the way they protect their information, understand where the threats are and start putting robust processes in place to protect their customers. If they don’t I can only see the number of data breaches increasing in the next few years.”

OCTOBER 2015 insurancepeople 15

insurancepeople

News

AXA makes good use of “fundamental dishonesty” defence XA has used the fundamental dishonesty defence to force two fraudsters to withdraw fake but financially significant personal injury claims resulting from a minor motor incident with an AXA customer.

AXA’s customer registered a claim explaining that their passenger had opened a rear door, whilst stationary

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in a car park, which made light contact with a neighbouring vehicle.

When contacted, the driver of the third party vehicle, Shakil Ashraf Kamal, confirmed the insured’s version of events but subsequently submitted a personal injury claim as did his passenger, Kerry Louise Keenan.

When AXA raised concerns about the personal injury claims

based on the minor nature of the incident, both claimants submitted medical evidence showing a 12-month prognosis for a cervical spine injury resulting in a personal injury claim totalling nearly £25,000.

The accident description provided in the medical report for Kamal claimed “the car was stationary in a car park and was side shunted” whereas

Keenan asserted that “another vehicle’s nearside door opened and struck the driver’s side”.

AXA informed the claimants’ solicitors that no offer would be made and entered a defence to the litigation pleading that both claims were fundamentally dishonest. The claims were subsequently withdrawn and AXA was awarded costs of over £18,000 against the claimants.

History repeating itself at Lloyd's? loyd’s international casualty reinsurance underwriters are running the risk of repeating the same mistakes that have placed the market in difficulty in the past, a new straw poll by LMA suggests.

According to a survey conducted this August, 68% of casualty treaty underwriters believe that, by offering more relaxed terms and conditions, the market could be repeating historical mistakes. Of those who responded, 95% said that they had seen softening of terms and conditions in the international casualty market and 39% believed that more than half of those changes were having a material impact on underwriters’ exposures.

Around 71% of respondents thought that differential terms – when some following carriers on a reinsurance slip or on a different layer underwrite the risk on terms and conditions different from those agreed by the slip’s lead carrier -- were becoming more prevalent at Lloyd’s.

In terms of market conditions, underwriters felt that rates were at the bottom of the cycle, or were approaching bottom. The vast majority felt that current prices were unsustainable. Considering these conditions, underwriters were surprised that clients were not buying more international casualty reinsurance protection.

Two thirds of underwriters said that they had declined more renewal business in 2015 than the previous year.

Broadening terms and conditions were the reason most commonly cited for their decision not to renew, followed by pricing considerations and poor loss experience.

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16 insurancepeople OCTOBER 2015

In association with

Doubts about driverless cars esearch by uSwitch.com indicates that many consumers do not trust driverless cars to be safe on the roads, with many also confused about how the cars will affect insurance premiums. Among the main conclusions of the research:

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Four in 10 (43%) wouldn’t trust a car to drive safely without a driver and 16% say they are ‘horrified’ by the idea

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Over a third (35%) expect the introduction of driverless cars to drive up their insurance premiums

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Consumers are confused over car accident liability, with a quarter (26%) believing fault lies with the autonomous car manufacturer

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Almost a third (30%) believe that joint responsibility lies between the ‘driver’ of the autonomous car and the third party involved in the accident. 18% would hold the person at the wheel of the autonomous car accountable for the accident.

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48% of consumers would be unwilling to be a passenger in an autonomous vehicle

Research was carried out online with the uSwitch.com consumer opinion panel, among a sample of 953 British adults.

Cancer causing a third of long-term absence ew data issued by financial protection specialist Unum has shown that cancer accounts for almost a third (29%) of all long term sickness claims paid in the past year. This is more than all claims paid for musculoskeletal, nervous system and heart and circulation issues combined (29% vs 24% in total respectively).

Mental health issues were the second biggest

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cause of long term absences, with over one in six (18%) of all income protection claims paid by Unum due to conditions such as stress, anxiety or depression.

The data comes from Unum’s first annual claims statement which covered claims paid between 1 August 2014 and 31 July 2015, where employees became too unwell to work for six months or more.

The findings also shed light on the disparity between claims paid to male and female workers.

Less than two fifths of the employees covered by Unum are female, despite women making up 47% of the workforce. Men are 1.5 times more likely to have income protection than women,.

While cancer and mental health issues were the main causes behind

income protection claims over the period analysed, one in 10 claims were due to a musculoskeletal condition such as tendonitis or a back problem. Conditions associated with the nervous system, such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s, resulted in 7% of claims, and heart and circulation related issues also led to 7% of claims.

Skuld aims for non-marine growth arine insurance provider Skuld has announced that its Lloyd’s syndicate 1897 is sponsoring the return of Michael Pritchard to the market.

In line with the Skuld group’s wider business development strategy, the new business unit will generate non-marine business from companies in high-growth economies as well as from Skuld’s international marine network. A Special Purpose Syndicate (SPS) is being established by to give the

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opportunity for emerging market capital to support this business, via a quota share reinsurance of Skuld 1897.

Skuld has received ‘in principle’ approval from Lloyd’s to write non-marine business within Skuld 1897. The non-marine unit will be headed by Michael Pritchard and will commence underwriting from 1 January 2016 with a premium capacity in the region of £75m, subject to full and final approval by Lloyd’s.

OCTOBER 2015 insurancepeople 17

insurancepeople

News

Folgate returns to active underwriting F olgate Insurance, which was established in 1877, has returned to active underwriting in the UK and continental Europe a year after being acquired

by APC Underwriting.

At the end of August the regulator granted approval for Folgate to begin underwriting on a quota share basis in conjunction with a Lloyd's syndicate. Its combined £30m of capacity will support the expansion plans of APC’s MGA in the UK and Continental Europe. In addition, Folgate is seeking to

provide capacity for other MGAs in 2016.

Folgate has also strengthened its company board to help drive growth in its target SME markets. Led

by Brian Russell, CEO, Folgate’s non-executive directors are Charles Earle (formerly chairman of Arista), Adrian Harris (formerly head of SME AmTrust Syndicate 1206 and general manager of AmTrust Underwriting) and Stephen Mathers (formerly an active underwriter at Kiln Syndicates).

The insurer previously underwrote household, motor, commercial (including

Hastings plans flotation astings has announced its intention to proceed with an initial public offering. Hastings Group Holdings Limited (which will be renamed Hastings Group Holdings plc) intends to apply for admission of the shares to the premium listing segment of the Official List of the FCA and to trading on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange. The offer will comprise an offer of shares to institutional investors.

Gary Hoffman, CEO of Hastings, says of the IPO, "By combining sophisticated, data driven pricing underpinned by disciplined underwriting and market leading fraud detection and claims handling, we have grown customer numbers to 1.9 million and secured more than 5%. of the UK private motor market and 11%. of all new PCW private motor insurance sales.

Hastings is well placed to benefit from developing market trends including continued penetration of PCWs and from further expansion into the home insurance market.”

"We believe our refreshingly straightforward approach to insurance will enable Hastings to continue to deliver long-term profitable growth as we drive towards achieving our target of over 2.5 million customers by the end of 2017.”

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employers’ liability) and travel policies before ceasing underwriting on 30th June 2002. The run-off of its book continues to be administered

by APC. Brian Russell, APC Underwriting CEO, said: "As soon as APC purchased Folgate we began talking to the regulators about using the 138 year old insurer to actively underwrite again.

One year on we are live.

“As well as enabling APC’s own MGA to both grow faster and develop a wider range of products for brokers, Folgate has the capacity and appetite to

Brian Russell

support other best of breed MGAs. The return to the market of a longestablished insurer after 13 years is a great story for both APC and the wider insurance market.”

RSA to sell Latin America operations SA has signed contracts, subject to regulatory approvals, to sell its operations in Latin America to Suramericana S.A., the insurance subsidiary of Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana for approximately £403m payable in cash.

Stephen Hester, RSA group chief executive says, “With RSA’s focus on its largest markets in the UK and Ireland, Scandinavia and Canada, it has become increasingly clear to us that RSA is no longer the best strategic owner of these businesses. In Suramericana we have an experienced and committed regional player who can make the business a much

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more central part of their strategy.

“At £403m cash purchase price this sale is expected to be strongly accretive to capital for RSA, enhancing operational flexibility. This is the largest remaining disposal we have underway and is consistent with our stated target to substantially complete RSA’s strategic refocus by the 2015 year end results announcement.”

RSA Latin America had total assets of £1,336m and net tangible assets of £258m at 31 December 2014 (restated at 31 August 2015 exchange rates). Net written premiums in the first half of 2015 were £333m with a post-tax profit of £9m.

In association with

Markerstudy takes Lionheart arkerstudy is acquiring Birmingham-based Lionheart Insurance, adding more than 1,500 policyholders and over £2 million of premium to its retail arm. The directors of Lionheart, David and Alison Wilkes, are leaving to take up “new ventures”. The rest of the employees are joining Markerstudy.

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Russell Bence, managing director of Markerstudy Retail, says of Lionheart, which has had a trading relationship with Markerstudy for many years, “Predominantly motor trade and commercial business, it fits perfectly with our retail division strategy for growth, making it an attractive proposition.”

Life insurers turn to cloud base ife insurers globally are increasingly seeking to meet peak demand for high-quality information faster and more efficiently by using new ‘pay-as-yougo’, cloud-based technology according to Towers Watson.

Joel Fox, Towers Watson’s global life financial modelling and reporting leader, says, “Heavily fluctuating and increasingly burdensome regulatory reporting requirements are forcing many of our life insurer clients to make adjustments to their business infrastructure. However in this process to improve efficiency and reduce costs they often find themselves restricted by outdated systems.”

According to Towers Watson, the solution lies in enabling life insurers to run their models against an on-demand, cloud-based grid which can deliver very large computing resources without the cost of managing an in-house infrastructure. It claims this solution also provides higher compute capacity, more modelling runs and greater accuracy. In addition it suggests the ability to access the extra computer power in this way will help insurers to improve their financial modelling analytics without the cost of outright systems replacement.

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Marsh makes recommended offer for Jelf arsh and Jelf have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended cash acquisition by which the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Jelf will be acquired by Marsh. Under the terms of the acquisition, each Scheme Shareholder will receive 215 pence in cash for each Jelf Share.

Founded in 1989, Jelf has 37 offices across the UK and provides advice to over 100,000 businesses and individuals on matters relating to insurance, healthcare, employee benefits and financial planning. With the acquisition, Marsh would acquire one of the leading independent insurance brokers to the UK’s small and medium-sized enterprises and strengthen its presence in the large and mid-market companies segment. As

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such, it further develops Marsh’s ability to expand the services it provides UK SMEs, in line with its global ambition in this segment.

Commenting on the announcement, Mark Weil, Marsh’s CEO for UK & Ireland, said: “Jelf and Marsh are highly complementary businesses, both in terms of business and values.

This transaction underlines Marsh’s commitment to setting the standard for providing advice and products that meet the risk, financial services and insurance needs of individuals and companies of all sizes across the UK. We have the highest regard for the management and team at Jelf and expect they will be a huge asset as, together, we provide the market-leading suite of solutions to our clients.”

New facility at Pioneer ioneer Underwriters has announced its new professional liability underwriting capability for securities broker-dealers.

Dan Cleary and Nick Chen have been appointed vice presidents of the new division and will report to Gary Dubois, president of Pioneer Special Risk (‘PSR’), based in New York.

Pioneer is an approved coverholder at Lloyd’s for

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this class and is licensed to transact business in all 50 states as well as Washington D.C. Mr. Cleary and Mr. Chen each brings over 15 years of experience of this class of business and latterly were part of XL Catlin’s Select Professional Division, having previously worked together at NY Magic, now part of ProSight.

OCTOBER 2015 insurancepeople 19

insurancepeople

News UK pension savings at record high A

ccording to the Office for National Statistics, more than half (59.4%) of employees were members of a workplace pension in 2014, up from 49.8% in 2013 and the total of 46.5% in 2012, and the highest since 1997. The overall growth was driven by auto-enrolment and increases in membership of occupational defined contribution, as well as group personal and stakeholder pension schemes. By July 2015, over 5.4 million workers had been successfully enrolled since the autoenrolment began in October 2012.

New pensions business rose by 20.8% in 2013, but declined by 16.8% to £30.6 billion in 2014, according to a new report by Timetric’s UK Financial Services. “Despite an increase in workplace pension participation, new business premiums fell sharply following the first wave of autoenrolment,” says Laura Balkarova, economist at Timetric. The largest businesses, with more than 250 employees, completed their auto-enrolment duties by the end of March 2014. Smaller businesses, with less than 50 employees, are now beginning to approach their staging dates.

The value of new workplace pensions business declined by 26.7% in 2014, but was still higher than in 2012. However, individual pensions business increased by 8.5% last year, which is likely to have been prompted by the new pension flexibilities announced by the Chancellor George Osborne in March 2014.

“The new pension rules, auto-enrolment and the rising state pension age are expected to lead to greater engagement with pensions,” Laura Balkarova adds. “The biggest challenge for the industry will be ensuring the success of auto-enrolment is repeated by smaller employers in the months ahead. That said, over 1.8 million employers will have to meet their autoenrolment duties over the next three years.”

Local councils' low ranking for transparency XA research indicates that SME directors view their local council as being the least transparent institution with which they have regular dealings, with only 59% rating them as “transparent”. This ranks well below energy providers (65%) and banks (73%) – two sectors that have suffered significant reputational damage around the clarity of their business dealings.

The report – Trust and Transparency between SMEs and Institutions – discovered that SMEs take a dim view of political entities and the trustworthiness and transparency of their

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activities. When asked to rate their level of trust in five elements key to ensuring ongoing commercial success, SME directors had the least faith in the Government “to legislate in the best interests of SMEs”, with only half of respondents (52%) trusting that the Government has their interests at heart.

AXA asked 400 SME directors to score their accountants, lawyers, insurers, bank, energy provider and local council in terms of how transparent they are in their dealings with them.

Insurers ranked third (75%) following accountants (90%) and lawyers (84%).

In association with

Liverpool tops league for personal injury claims he Institute and Faculty of Actuaries’ (IFoA) annual report looking at third party injury and third party damage motor insurance claims shows Liverpool remains the third party personal injury claims capital of the UK, with 55% of road accidents resulting in a claim. This compares with a national rate of just over 30%. The IFoA report collated and analysed data from 18 of the top 20 motor insurers for 2014.

The report finds that, despite material reductions across the whole of the country in the frequency and costs of claims following the new LASPO legislation in 2013, frequencies and costs are on the rise again. The impact on insurance costs will be highest where there

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are the highest percentages of personal injury claiming, with cities such as Liverpool expected to see larger increases in insurance premiums.

The highest concentration of claims management companies in 2014 remained the North West, followed by London, the South East and the West Midlands.

Correspondingly, the report also found that North West England has the highest third party injury to third party property damage ratio and the South East has the highest frequency of third party property damage claims.

Scotland and the West Country have both the lowest third party property damage

£34,000 confiscated from fraudster he Old Bailey has ordered £34,000 to be confiscated from a ‘crash for cash’ conman who obtained it from sham insurance claims made after he deliberately caused a collision on a Dorchester Aroad. He was also ordered to pay court cost of £7,653.00.

Judge Moss said that Mark Smith, aged 45, of Moat House Way in Doncaster, must repay the total amount to his car insurer within three months or face 18 months in prison.

The ruling comes after City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department

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(IFED) applied to the court to recover the proceeds of Smith’s fraud in March 2013, when its investigation saw him handed a six month jail term suspended for two years and a 140-hour unpaid work order.

Smith previously pleaded guilty to deliberately slamming on the brakes of his Porsche 911 on the A638 in 2009, causing a Doncaster Council van to drive into the back of him.

He admitted fraudulently obtaining payouts from his car insurer and attempting to extract money from the van’s insurer Zurich for bogus whiplash and repair claims.

and third party injury to property damage ratios.

Despite the number of personal injury CMCs dropping by 13% to 979 over the year, turnover for the sector increased in the year to March 2015 by 30% to £310m.

For the whole of the UK,

the percentage of accidents involving a third party personal injury claim increased by 1.5% in the 12 months to the end of 2014.

This followed a reduction of some 5.1% following the introduction of the LASPO legislation (2013 accidents compared with 2012).

M&A consequences outlined peaking at the Monte Carlo Reinsurance Rendezvous, Mike McGavick, CEO of XL Group, highlighted key trends in insurance, including recent mergers and acquisitions and their consequences for the industry as a whole. He said that innovation and investment in analytics and talent would be defining for those wishing to succeed in the future.

He continued, “We are experiencing something of a renaissance in our

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industry as we look to how we can respond to the changes brought about by the rapid technological developments occurring both across sectors and the globe.

“The industry has never been so reflective – asking what part must we play in economies worldwide and how can we not only respond to, but anticipate the risks facing our clients? Here to reflect is to progress – but we cannot afford to ponder too long.”

OCTOBER 2015 insurancepeople 21

insurancepeople

News

Tracker aids recovery of £50,000 Land Rover olice in south-west London were able to recover a stolen Land Rover Discovery, worth over £50,000, and three other Mercedes-Benz cars, thanks to Tracker.

When the customer found that his Land Rover Discovery had been taken from outside his flat in London, he called Tracker to notify them and then called the police. Tracker activated its hidden unit on the missing vehicle, which alerted police nearly 100

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miles away in Suffolk to its signal. Less than two days after the Tracker activation, police traced the stolen vehicle to the port of Felixstowe. Using hand held Tracker equipment, officers were able to pin point the exact container that the Land Rover was stored in and also uncovered three MercedesBenz cars that had also been stolen.

Commenting on the successful recovery, Adrian Davenport, police liaison

officer for Tracker, said, “This was a fantastic case where we were able to help police not only find the customer’s car but also prevent the theft of other prestige vehicles. This was a high value car being taken from outside the owner’s home without the need for the keys. Luckily for the customer his Land Rover Discovery was fitted with a Tracker, and with our unique technology we were able to help police locate his vehicle and others, even

though they were hidden in a shipping container.

“Our close working relationship with UK police forces saved the day, as we continue to help stop criminals in their tracks.

Whilst a tracking device won’t stop a car being stolen, it does increase the chances of police recovering and returning the vehicle to its owner. The three Mercedes-Benz vehicles would not have been found had it not been for our tracking technology.”

Granite goes live on Transactor nsurance software companyTransactor Global Solutions has been selected to provide a new software system for Granite Group, better known by its trading names of Acorn Insurance, Motorcade Insurance and Granite Underwriting.

Besides its head office building in Formby, Liverpool, Granite Group operates from five offices in London, with additional offices in Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds.

All nine of the group’s offices are now live on the system after the order was placed in December 2013. Phase 1 went live in November 2014.

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Alan Keating, managing director, Granite Underwriting, says, “After looking long and hard at the different software systems available on the market, we decided that TGSL was the right choice for our needs. The Granite group is currently handling in excess of £130 million of GWP in the niche motor market, with ambitions of reaching £300 million over the next five years. To reach this we need a state of the art and forward thinking software system that can efficiently handle our specialist and somewhat unique product range.”

Average £5,000-worth in the garden he recent ‘Cash in the Garden’ report by over-50s specialist RIAS reveals that Great Britain’s gardens are collectively worth around £9.3 billion. Other key findings: each UK property has on average £5,000 worth of items in their garden; over 50’s have £2.6 billion worth of garden items which are uninsured; and the nation's garden sheds are collectively worth an estimated £7 billion. The most expensive and popular garden items include; sheds (£189.98), greenhouses (£189) summer houses (£479.00), solar panels (£700) and hot tubs (£2,000).

Janet Connor, managing director at RIAS, comments: “As the over 50s get their homes back to themselves once again, or move towards part-time working or retirement, their gardens really are becoming their sanctuaries, with lots of time and money being ploughed into the maintenance and upkeep of their gardens.

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22 insurancepeople OCTOBER 2015

“And it’s this value of just over £5,000 per household that needs to be protected, with garden sheds becoming a treasure chest of gardening gadgets.”

In association with

AXA launches online Minifleet Choice A

XA has extended its etrade offering with the launch of Minifleet Choice.

As part of the delivery of the company's commercial broker strategy for 2020, the e-trading business (recently re-branded to Connect) has been restructured under the leadership of Deepak Soni, has a dedicated management team, and

has launched two new products, AXA Business Choice and now Minifleet Choice.

The new product typically covers fleets between three and 15 vehicles and through midterm adjustments and renewals, fleet sizes can be amended to cover between one and 20 vehicles. As with the other

seven products available on Connect, Minifleet Choice can be traded on AXA’s extranet and the Acturis platform.

Deepak Soni, director of commercial intermediary, e-trading, says, “An ability to trade quickly and effectively across a broad range of products and professions in the online space is

absolutely crucial if we are going to meet the demands of brokers and satisfy our own ambitions.

“With my new team in place and this comprehensive product suite, I believe we are making great headway in establishing ourselves as the pre-eminent online trader of SME products in the broker market.”

Oracle in Guernsey selects Applied O racle Financial Services (Guernsey) has selected Applied CSR24 to provide clients with 24/7 online self-service access to insurance information. Using integration with Applied TAMOnline, Oracle now aims to provide clients with quicker and more personalised online and mobile access to policy information and documents.

Paul Cotterill, insurance manager for Oracle, says, “With Applied CSR24, we are able to deliver a multichannel customer experience beyond our traditional operating hours by providing anytime, anywhere access to our business, which not only increases customer satisfaction, but also improves internal productivity by streamlining administrative tasks.”

“Consumer demand for anytime, anywhere service is evolving the insurance

industry into a more connected and complex marketplace than ever, requiring leading independent insurance brokers to leverage software that enables multichannel servicing and streamlines business operations," says Jeff Purdy, senior vice president of international operations, Applied Systems. "As more commercial businesses move online, Oracle will be able to further differentiate their customer service and elevate their competitive value by delivering an online customer experience anywhere, anytime, while simultaneously automating business operations across their business for improved overall productivity.”

* * * * * Applied Systems is expanding its commercial lines panel with the addition of mini-fleet products from AXA and RSA. Brokers will

have access to mini-fleet via the iMarket system by the end of 2015.

“AXA remains focused on delivering leading eTrading capabilities, making business with brokers as simple and timely as possible,” said Jason Bridgman, head of digital deals and partnerships, AXA Commercial Lines and Personal Intermediary. “This collaboration with Applied Systems furthers our mission to build our strong online product offerings for our brokers’ SME customers.”

* * * * * Hencilla Canworth has moved to AppliedTAMOnline, aiming to streamline business operations, automate reporting, and increase integration across systems to drive business growth and profitability.

“To further enhance our online customer experience,

Jeff Purdy

we required a back-office system that could seamlessly integrate with our front-office client services,” said David Pollard, chief executive of Hencilla Canworth.

“Working with Applied, we expect to benefit from superior technology guidance and solutions that improve productivity and increase client service through streamlined workflows and increased connectivity across our business.”

OCTOBER 2015 insurancepeople 23

insurancepeople

News FCA completes executive appointments

Be Wiser Kawasaki go Dutch olland’s Assen circuit was the backdrop for an action packed superbike weekend for Be Wiser Insurance with its Be Wiser Kawasaki team.

The 10th round of the championship saw rider Danny Buchan securing 10th and 12th place in the weekend’s racing with team mate and former World Superbike race winner at Assen, Chris Walker finishing in 17th and 8th place in the two races.

Andrew Dunkerley from Be Wiser said the weather also played a huge part in the weekend’s proceedings with massive downpours delaying the start of the second race as organisers tried to give the competitors a dry

Photo by www.jonjessopphotography.co.uk

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circuit. “It was an interesting weekend for the team as we approach the final two races of our first season in top flight superbike racing,’’ he said. “Danny showed great maturity with solid results on a circuit which is still very new to him and Chris did well in some very difficult conditions.”

In the sidecar racing, the AOS Be Wiser sidecar team had a good weekend, extending their lead in the championship.

Hampshire-based Ricky Stevens and passenger Ryan Charlwood lined up in second place on the grid eventually winning the race by 13.3 seconds, and they were back on the podium for the second race.

Danny Buchan in action 24 insurancepeople OCTOBER 2015

he FCA acting chief executive Tracey McDermott has announced the final appointment to its executive committee, with Georgina Philippou becoming chief operating officer.

Georgina Philippou has been acting director for enforcement and market oversight and will take up her new role in November.

She has over twenty years’ experience of regulation in the United Kingdom and recently played a key role in the FCA’s work on the 40th annual IOSCO Conference in June.

The Financial Conduct Authority’s executive committee now consists of:

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Acting Chief Executive Officer: Tracey McDermott Chief Operating Officer: Georgina Philippou Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight: Mark Steward Director of Strategy and Competition: Christopher Woolard Director of Supervision – Investment, Wholesale and Specialists: Megan Butler Director of Supervision – Retail and Authorisations: Jonathan Davidson Director of Risk and Compliance Oversight: Barbara Frohn General Counsel: Sean Martin

Aviva under-insurance guide for businesses viva has launched a guide to under-insurance to help businesses understand the importance of having the right amount of insurance and what the implications are if they don’t.

The guide, available for brokers and businesses, explains what the ‘average clause’ is and the impact it has on the way claims are calculated. It also offers examples of cases where businesses had insufficient insurance, and highlights some of the times in the life of a business when the insurance needs might have changed.

Angus Eaton, managing director of commercial

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insurance at Aviva, says, “Under-insurance continues to be an issue for businesses.

In a recent survey of 200 SMEs we found that 40% had not reviewed their insurance needs in the last 12 months, so it is important that we make businesses aware of the implications of being under-insured and encourage them to seek professional advice.

“Our guide on underinsurance is intended to help raise awareness of the impact, share some simple tips and advice, and highlight some of the key times in the life of a business when the business insurance needs might have changed.”

In association with

Liberty Bake-off ith 'bake-off' fever gripping the nation, Liberty Specialty Markets held its own version of the hit BBC show recently in aid of its charity partner, WaterAid. Staff donated money in return for baking waterthemed cakes. Winner of the Great Liberty Bake-off was Paul Sheppard (sitting) with his H2O biscuits. The event was held in Liberty’s café in the Walkie Talkie.

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Markerstudy go live with MyLicence arkerstudy claim to be one of the first insurers to take advantage of industry initiative MyLicence, thanks to RDT’s upgrade of their administration platform Landscape.

MyLicence was created jointly by the DVLA, the Department for Transport, the Association of British Insurers and the Motor Insurers' Bureau. Its main purpose is to improve the customer experience by making applying for

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insurance easier and to lower premiums.

Insurers who are connected to the MyLicence hub are able to provide more competitive prices for customers who supply their driving licence number, using data returned from the DVLA. However this data also gives the insurer the ability to discover key risk data about a customer, meaning that early adopters are gaining a competitive advantage – key benefits include a drop in application

fraud and the ability to price more accurately.

Markerstudy’s group product manager Chris Staples says, “MyLicence is a major market initiative.

RDT understood its importance and was quick to provide connectivity for its clients – their developers were working on the enhancement at the same time that the DVLA was creating the MyLicence platform.”

RDT’s CEO Mark Bates adds, “The MyLicence

initiative is a transformational step for motor insurers and we are delighted that Markerstudy has gone live with it. RDT is a technology innovator and we place great emphasis on research, development and industry collaboration – so we always respond as quickly as possible to new challenges such as the MyLicence initiative. On top of that, we will always champion any move that will help combat fraud and boost industry efficiency.”

Zurich withdraws from RSA talks s a result of recent deterioration in the trading performance of Zurich’s general insurance business, Zurich has terminated discussions with RSA regarding a possible offer.

Zurich has confirmed to RSA that the due diligence findings were in line with their expectations and, while the process had not been finally concluded, they had not found anything that would have prevented them from proceeding with the transaction on the terms announced.

A statement from RSA says, “Zurich’s interest in acquiring RSA, which was announced on 28 July 2015,

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was unsolicited. Since that time, RSA has continued to make good progress in the delivery of its action plans, as evidenced by our half year results. Trading results for July and August have been positive and ahead of our expectations. Additionally, we have announced the sale of our Latin America business, the principal outstanding piece of our strategic refocus programme.

“The board and management of RSA look forward to the future with confidence in its prospects and to next updating the market at the Q3 interim management statement on 5 November 2015.”

OCTOBER 2015 insurancepeople 25

On the move Who’s going where?

Tony Newman

Stacey Keen

Allianz Allianz Insurance appoints Tony Newman as head of motor claims, having progressed through the organisation over 20 years in a variety of claims roles across operations, business change, and technical.

He has also led claims related market consultations.

Stacey Keen joins the Retail division as broker partnership manager. She joined in 2011 as an account manager for microchip and retail, later moving to become senior account manager for Petplan. Most recently she was corporate partner operations manager, and earlier worked as a client development manager at Affinion International.

Cunningham Lindsey Colin Buxton joins Cunningham Lindsey’s major & complex loss team as a major loss surveyor, based in Manchester. Previously with Crawford & Co for ten years and Ashworth Mairs before that, he worked earlier for Ellis & Buckle – now Cunningham Lindsey.

Colin Buxton 26 insurancepeople OCTOBER 2015

Pool Re Pool Re appoints Geoffrey (Geoff) Riddell as non-executive director, bringing over three decades of experience in international insurance markets. Most recently he was as regional chairman – Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa for Zurich Insurance.

Before that he was CEO and then chairman of Zurich Global Corporate. He joined Zurich from AIG where his roles included country head of AIG France, CEO of AIG Belgium, and president and managing director Hong Kong. He was previously a director of Pool Re from 2005-10.

Aspen Re

SchemeServe

Aspen Reinsurance appoints Christian Dunleavy as head of global property catastrophe to be located in Bermuda. He joins from Axis Reinsurance where he was until recently a senior vice president, responsible for U.S. property treaty, Caribbean property and workers compensation catastrophe business. Prior to that he was a senior analyst at RenaissanceRe, responsible for multi-peril modelling, pricing and portfolio analysis.

SchemeServe appoints Jonathan Powell as an underwriting ‘Scheme Tailor’. He joins from Advantage Insurance where he spent six years underwriting, managing real time pricing, and post live validation. Prior to 2009 he was an insurance technician and programmer at Equity Red Star and Acorn Insurance.

Caravan Guard Caravan Guard appoints former local journalist Liz Harrison as its new PR and communications officer.

She joins from Covéa Insurance.

Markel Markel International appoints Savita Mascarenhas as underwriter for its trade credit operations in Dubai. She joins from National General Insurance (in partnership with Coface Emirates) in Dubai, where she was an

Savita Mascarenhas

Jonathan Powell

account representative.

Prior to this she was an account executive at Coface Emirates for over six years.

Bennett Wong joins as assistant trade credit underwriter in the Singapore office. He joins from United Overseas Bank where since 2013 he was vice president of the structured trade and commodity finance. He has also worked for Banques Arabes et Francaises and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group in Singapore, and prior to that was a senior analyst for the Ministry of Home Affairs in Singapore.

Sue Langley

Arthur J Gallagher Arthur J. Gallagher appoints Sue Langley as non-executive chairman of the Holdings (UK)

BLP Karen Wilson joins BLP Insurance as business development executive for the South West from Glenigan Ltd where she spent 17 years.

Alex Barnes joins as business development executive for the Midlands, based in Birmingham. He has over 15 years’ experience in a similar role, having previously worked at Aon (UK), HSBC Insurance Brokers, and most recently, Build Midlands.

board. She is currently a non-executive director for UKAR (Northern Rock Asset Management and Bradford & Bingley) and chairman of its remuneration committees, and lead non-executive director for the Home Office.

Until recently, she was also CEO of the government’s Financial Services Organisation within UK Trade & Investment, and was awarded an OBE for services to Women in Business.

Innovation Group Innovation Group appoints Greg Gladwell as managing director, UK property.

He joins from Crawford and Co, where he was CEO, UK and Ireland from 20112015. He joined Crawford in 2010 as MD, global home claims, after a career at Norwich Union/Aviva, where he undertook a variety of senior claims roles. He replaces current MD Paul Irvin, who moves to a new international role in the company.

Auto Windscreens

Karen Wilson

Simon Limbrick, former business manager of Autoglass, has joined Auto Windscreens as national sales manager to oversee business growth for the automotive glass repair and replacement company which recently announced its acquisition of AA AutoWindshields, the AA’s automotive glazing business.

TEn TEn Insurance appoints Rebecca Steel to the new role of business development manager for the South of England. She joins from Thistle Insurance, part of Jardine Lloyd Thompson. Her most recent role was product and sales manager.

Rebecca Steel

Ageas Ageas appoints Nick Lemans as interim managing director for Ageas Retail Direct including the RIAS and Castle Cover brands. He joined Ageas in 2006 as finance director for RIAS, taking up the FD position for Ageas Retail in 2011.A chartered accountant with 20 years’ experience in financial services he previously worked with PWC and British Aerospace.

Pen Underwriting Pen Underwriting appoints Jonathan Turner as executive chairman. He was most recently at Brit Insurance where his roles included active underwriter of Syndicate 2987. Prior to this he spent nine years at QBE International, latterly as the general manager for QBE Re. In 2012 he established his own consultancy business and since then has been working on bespoke projects within the London & Lloyd’s market.

Kirk Ford

Nicola Mathias

RWA RWA make new appointments to their insurance broker support team. Kirk Ford joins the compliance consultancy team handling clients in Wales and the South West. He joins from Optimum Credit where he was training & competence manager. He also worked as compliance officer for Go Compare.

Nicola Mathias joins as business development manager. She joins from Acorn Recruitment where she was business development manager.

OCTOBER 2015 insurancepeople 27

by Andrew Newman

“I always wanted to be a…” t’s going to be hard work to change the image of insurance into a thrill-packed career choice. Even mellowed down to a fulfilling variety of career paths, with plenty of job satisfaction and bonhomie, it still fails to shine out as the job to go for.

in association with:

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Although some image repair now takes place in schools and colleges, most career seekers have no idea what insurance is all about, beyond the negative messages in daily press and media.

The image of insurance falls into two extremes. Older readers remember the bike and cycle clips of the man who used to call on their grandparents once a week to collect money. With nothing tangible - like a pint of milk or a loaf of bread - it seemed a complete rip-off to young eyes.

Fast forward to current times, and the image of insurance as a potential career still seems as unattractive as ever, with the visualisation shifted to association with banking – where market-wide chicanery and bad apple manipulation has shredded that reputation.

The insurance industry’s association with the Establishment is still lampooned today, stirring up past images of the ‘City Gent’ – complete with bowler hat and umbrella, thanks to Monty Python, currently enjoying renewed exposure on TV reruns.

The famous ‘Lion Tamer sketch’ lampoons chartered accountants - a favourite Python target, along with civil servants and unhelpful shopkeepers. But insurance isn’t far behind, as we will see…

Storyboard: Chartered accountant Mr Anchovy visits a job counsellor complaining that his job is dull, dull, dull. The counsellor explains that expert research reveals that Anchovy himself is an appallingly dull fellow, unimaginative, timid, lacking in initiative, with absolutely no sense of humour. While in most professions these would prove to be considerable drawbacks, in chartered accountancy they are a positive boon!

But Anchovy seeks something more exciting. He already has the hat with ‘Lion Tamer’ written on it. However, he is persuaded to lead up to that role gently, with a job in insurance. But on reflection, he decides that even that is a step too far.

That humour of course came out of Oxbridge, so there’s reason enough to see that the insurance industry’s current search for top academic talent faces an uphill task.

28 insurancepeople OCTOBER 2015

But there is a punch line. That same humour has strengthened the profession’s ability to laugh at itself. And that in turn has helped sweep away pomposity, snobbishness, selfimportance, and arrogance in society and the workplace.

Such behaviour has certainly diminished (although the few pockets of resistance could still do with a good dose of ridicule).

“I can fly! I can fly!” alking of punch lines, boarding a well-filled London Underground train recently – one of the latest ones with good acceleration – I escorted my wife Carol to an empty seat, grabbing the adjacent pole for myself.

Traveller’s instinct prompted me to stay put until the train was underway before moving down the car to a spare seat.

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But a well-meaning nudge from my seated companion prompted two conundrums – whether to risk the necessary balancing act as the train got underway; or possible discord for ignoring proffered advice, with subsequent “What a wuss!” chiding.

Of course, the driver put his foot down as soon as I became ‘hands free’. Suffice to say I found myself whizzing backwards. They say that time goes into slow motion on these occasions. That’s not true of course.

It’s the brain that speeds up when danger threatens!

I twisted round, jumped for a fast approaching support (missed), and decided to remain airborne and allow some kind standing passengers to break my fall as I came in to land. Still in one piece, the next danger wasn’t injury, but high embarrassment. I had to turn about; walk to the seat I’d so spectacularly missed at first attempt, amid all the stares, and sit silently. What a wuss indeed!

Was there ever a need for a good punch line? Raising my eyebrows, and spreading my palms to my spellbound wife (and the rest of the car) I exclaimed, “I can fly! I can fly!” (The repetition added for dramatic effect). Do y’know, that spatter of applause was probably the most well-earned I’ve ever received.

WHA AT ARE THE ODD S

of no business

d disruptions ?

At HCC we understand that every day carries risk. That’s why we have designed HCC Online; a quick and easy-to-use online system for Professional Indemnity, Liability, D&O and Office. With key benefits such as a full life cycle system, competitive premiums, interest free monthly direct debit options and ideal for schemes.

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