The ABI, like any good trade body, is all about collaboration strength through association as we say. As the voice of the UK’s insurance and long-term savings industry, politicians, regulators and policymakers look to us for the industry’s perspective on key public policy issues
James Dalton James Dalton, Director of General Insurance, discusses industry collaboration and the ABI’s priorities for 2020.
At first glance, the scope for collaboration in the highly competitive insurance markets may seem very limited. Yet this is far from the case. Collaboration and competition are not mutually exclusive but are two sides of the same coin that help ensure an adaptable, innovative worldleading UK insurance industry that benefits customers, the UK economy, and wider society. Despite the diverse nature of our industry, when we come together the customer benefits. In the London Market for example, firms that are in competition with each other one minute will come together the next to share in the insuring of a large, unusual risk. The ABI, like any good trade body, is all about collaboration - strength through association as we say. As the voice of the UK’s insurance and long-term savings industry, politicians, regulators and policymakers look to us for the industry’s perspective on key public policy issues. During 2019, the ABI has been involved in nearly one hundred meetings with MPs, peers and other politicians, and held over twenty meetings with government Ministers. There are many examples of how ABI-coordinated industry collaboration leads to the industry working more effectively for the end customer, and wider society. These include:
Flood Re
The result of intensive negotiations between the industry and the Government, Flood Re is a world first, an innovative solution to ensure that flood insurance
remains accessible and affordable to thousands of homeowners who would otherwise struggle to access the market. Over 250,000 homeowners at flood risk are benefitting from the scheme since it was launched in 2016. The vast majority, 94%, of the UK home insurance market is using the scheme. This has created a competitive flood insurance market, which means that four out of five homeowners with previous flood claims are now able to find quotes that are more than 50% cheaper than before Flood Re began.
Building regulations
Long before the tragedy of the Grenfell fire the ABI had been calling for an overhaul of building and fire safety regulations. We joined forces with the Fire Protection Association (FPA), who carried out a series of carefully controlled experiments recreating more realistic building conditions than those in which standard tests are done, in an effort to measure what difference these factors could make in the event of a fire. The results dramatically and worryingly exposed the utter inadequacy of the laboratory tests currently used to check the fire safety of building materials. So we are pleased to now see that a review of BD8414 is underway given that we need a testing framework that is closely aligned to the realities of construction in the built environment, not one that is divorced from that reality. At the same time we need fundamental reform of the building control process to ensure proper protection of property against the risk of fire.
Despite the diverse nature of our industry, when we come together the customer benefits
22 Carpenters Group Supplement
