The industry can find it difficult to “articulate the value of insurance” to clients, according to Chartered Insurance Institute CEO, Matthew Hill.
Speaking on what he considers the “core challenges” in the industry at the moment, the newly appointed CEO said he was “struck” by how much of a challenge it can be for the insurance industry to argue the benefits of its products.
“It seems to me that insurance is a bit like the law in many respects: society is greatly enriched by insurance, and couldn’t operate in the way that we understand, without it,” he explained.
“What you are doing, as a customer of insurance in personal lines for example, is paying into a fund that helps people when things go wrong and there’s something, I think, very profound about that.
“When I pay for my house insurance, I'm not paying with the expectation that my house is going to burn down, but in the knowledge that if somebody else's house burns down, they will be helped, and they will help me if my house gets burned down.
“The insurance industry is a means of facilitating that social bargain.”
Talent
Hill also discussed how to encourage more young talent into the insurance industry, identifying the issue of articulation as a barrier.
“The job of the CII is to find ways to articulate the value that insurance adds that appeals to people, so that when young people are thinking about careers that they want to go into, there’s something that they can connect with,” he explained.
“There’s something underpinning the day job of insurance that is transcendent, that is fundamental to the way that we live our lives.”
He added that similar arguments could be made about financial planning, and the service that provides people to live their lives to the fullest possible potential.
“You’re creating a pull in the same way that many people might say that they want to become a doctor because they want to help people,” he continued.
“Can’t we find a way to persuade young people that they want to become insurance professionals or financial planners because they want to help people? Easier said than done, I recognise that.
“However, I see it as being a really important part of the offer of the CII, finding ways to articulate the value of these professions which are compelling.”
Five-year plan
Lastly, Hill discussed the CII’s five-year strategic plan, published last year, describing it as “really strong” and “full of ambition”.
“It’s a really good translation of the charter into a strategic plan, and I see no reason to change that plan, but I do see lots of opportunity for the institute to get better at turning that ambition into meaningful programmes of activity.
“The six themes seem very clear, very sensible, and what we need to do is make sure that for each of those six themes, we’ve mapped what is most likely to help us make progress towards our goals.
