The three Kent local Institutes -- Mid Kent, Royal Tunbridge Wells and Folkestone, Canterbury & East Kent -- joined forces again in March for their third annual Regional Conference in Maidstone.
This year's theme was 'Protecting our Industry' and provided members with a day of education, debate, networking and the opportunity to hear some of the profession's leading figures speak on a variety of topics impacting the insurance sector.
The day covered a range of issues regarding protection of the industry, from technology and the future to market conditions, with a great deal in between. The Folkestone, Canterbury & East Kent Institute's Ray Johnson, who also chairs the Kent Regional Conference, hosted the day, which opened with leading insurance figure Jon Hancock, managing director of RSA UK Commercial, giving his view on current market conditions and making the case for change.
Jamie Macgregor, senior vice-president of Celent, spoke next on technology and the future, before Alistair Kinley of BLM Law focused on the always relevant Insurance Act -- and why now is the time for change. David Irvine, Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) regional membership manager, then spoke about how the CII is promoting professionalism within the industry. The final talk of the morning came from Catherine Dixon, head of property and casualty, Allianz Insurance UK, on the impact of tropical flooding.
The afternoon session was kicked off by Andrew Priestley, of the Coaching Experience. Head of internal audit for Allianz, UK Andrew Gascoyne, followed with a talk on raising the bar for governance. Closing an enthralling day was Mihir Pandya, fraud manager at Allianz UK, who looked to address the issue of fraud, examining whether it still poses a major threat or is now a managed risk.
For more information on any of the topics or presentations from the day please contact: Victoria.rees-price@cii.co.uk