Chartered Insurance Institute  

AI means customers may not need advisers for technical expertise: CII chief executive

Hill added: "Our ambition to make use of things like AI to help us with the sort of laborious process, such as analysing CPD for example. 

"We hold a lot of interesting data that, if properly analysed and made available and mobilised, could give us even deeper insights into insurance and financial planning markets." 

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From public body to royal charter

If the profession is on the cusp of great change, Hill knows how to navigate the challenges and complexities of that for the CII and the members.

He started life "as the best damn bus pass laminator that Middlesborough Council had ever had" before moving upwards in the public sector, working in the Civil Service for 20 years.

He then moved into regulation, as executive director, strategy at the General Dental Council; director, regulatory risk and analysis at the Gambling Commission; before joining the Legal Services Board.

Hill - who said he was a 'policy and strategy man' through and through - worked with ministers on items of national importance, such as the BSE crisis, foot-and-mouth and setting up the then Financial Services Authority, before moving into dental and legal regulation.

But he said there were still "similarities" between his previous careers and his new role at the CII. 

He said: "Our royal charter gives us a strong public interest dimension to our mission. We are charged with working with our members to do all sorts of things that add value to society and, in many ways, that is similar to most of the organisations that I've worked for in the past.

"That sense of bringing public value to the table, whether for the taxpayer or people who pay compulsory regulatory fees."

While governmental bodies and private ones are funded differently, Hill said the sense of accountability is strong for both. "You still have to demonstrate and explain to people why it's worth paying for you that value you're adding.

"So in this new world I find myself in, of royal chartered bodies, this sense of duty to members and society is taking that one step further."

Hill said the insurance businesses covered by the CII, the brokers covered by the Society of Mortgage Professionals and the financial advisers covered by the Personal Finance Society are all playing "incredibly important roles" in the lives of Britons.

"Our members are helping people and businesses get the most out of their resources, and we have to put our resources to help our members fulfil that role.

"It is important for the CII and the PFS to give people confidence to engage with financial planners.