Brendan McCafferty tells Luke Holloway why building a sense of purpose is key to making sure the profession is future-ready
Purpose is a fundamental theme in business and can provide a key pathway to public trust in insurance, says Brendan McCafferty.
Mr McCafferty, who has more than 30 years’ experience in insurance, broking and regulation, is pleased that business leaders, investors and regulators are turning their focus on purpose into action because they realise it is vital to building sustainable businesses.
“Purpose is about giving people a strong sense that their work matters and in my experience, everybody wants their work to have meaning. We must explain to people why the work they do is important and what it contributes to society, because that is a key motivator, particularly for the latest generations in the workplace,” says Mr McCafferty.
It is closely connected to culture he says, as it helps professionals become engaged in what the firm is about, how it operates and what type of character an organisation has.
“It liberates people. It unlocks the culture of an organisation and ensures it is pointing in the right direction through the way decisions are made and how things get done,” he says.
Purpose is about giving people a strong sense that their work matters. In my experience, everybody wants their work to have meaning
Broad insight
Mr McCafferty feels lucky to have had such a varied career, spanning large brokers and insurance companies, giving him broad insight into the way the profession works.
“Everything I have done in the past 30 years has been incredibly interesting –from client-facing work to running networks, managing complex balance sheets, building Flood Re and most recently, working in private equity.
“You see different cultures and ways of operating. There is a contrast between running an insurer and a broker, and sometimes it is hard to believe they are in the same industry.
“Our profession is a remarkable landscape – a hugely important and complex area of the economy.”
The CII has been a constant throughout his career and Mr Cafferty is a strong supporter of the work the institute does through qualifications, professional standards and building trust in the profession.
“When I talk to people at the professional development stages of their careers, it is clear the CII is the primary gateway to becoming a true expert in what we do.
“When you listen to the generation of people who are future leaders, you realise the importance of the CII because it gives them the clear guidance that they need to be the leaders we want them to be.”
Looking ahead, Mr McCafferty feels the broking profession is evolving fast and wonders if brokers are aware enough of what will be expected of them.
“The regulator is clear that there is a responsibility for brokers to demonstrate transparency and value. This has profound implications for products, value chains and how we sell, as well as what we tell customers about what they are buying and who is getting paid what.
“We have seen the regulator has an appetite to deal with things we fail to take control of ourselves. It comes back to trust because if you are reluctant to tell people who is getting paid what, you have to ask: why? How we assess value is going to be at the heart of what we see in the next few years.”
Mr McCafferty also believes the broking sector is behind the curve in terms of diversity and inclusion. “I am quite shocked at the lack of it,” he says. “I go into a room full of 100 brokers and, with all due respect to my colleagues, 99 of them are middle-aged men.
“Society has changed. We must listen to those that can help us understand why change is necessary. If we do not it will hurt our relationships with clients and reputation.”
Flood Re
Launching Flood Re was a significant highlight in Mr Cafferty’s professional career and he is pleased to see positive progress still being made.
He also urges the profession to make maximum use of Flood Re in the years ahead, because it will not be around forever. “Insurers need to keep the pressure on for continuing spending on adaptation, flood mitigation and environmental planning. Those topics will not change in the foreseeable future and those are the ones that leaders in the profession must be pushing consistently. When Flood Re comes to an end, we need to have made the progress that was anticipated when it was set up, so that it is no longer necessary.”
Flood Re was also a key opportunity for Mr McCafferty to engage with the UK government and he feels there is no shortage of topics for the profession to continue to do so. These include the insurance gap, the prospect of a Pan Re solution in response to pandemics, post-Brexit signposting of the review on Solvency II, and the climate-change roadmap.
“The opportunity to collaborate is very wide indeed,” he says. “Policymakers and government ministers are very capable people with a strong willingness to find solutions to shared challenges. While it is complex and there are competing interests at times, I was encouraged by the attitude of senior officials and ministers to fix problems.
“I am very optimistic about the future of the sector and I believe we can continue to build a profession where we have technical competency, but also an equally reliable ethos of professional standards,” concludes Mr McCafferty.
“That will assure that our profession can flourish and be the powerhouse of the economy that it deserves to be.”
Luke Holloway is editor of The Journal
Image credit | Richard-Lea-Hair
Leader
Purpose is about giving people a strong sense that their work matters. In my experience, everybody wants their work to have meaning
Broking
In 2021, Brendan led the trade sale of Brightside Group, a mid-sized insurance broker, for its private equity shareholder AnaCap.
