CII president Jonathan Clark highlights proposed changes to the CII's bye-laws and Corporate Chartered status, alongside New Gen and recent charity work
In the last few weeks, together with Nick Turner and Sian Fisher, I have taken part in three webinars to outline to local institutes, Corporate Chartered members and all individual members, a series of proposed bye-law changes that will come before the AGM. The purpose of these changes is to better position the CII to meet the challenges of the coming years. If you have not had a chance to pick up on this activity, we have put a video of the latest webinar online for you.
In the offline world, I write this as I prepare to head out to a local institute dinner in Ipswich. I am delighted to see that this evening we will have a fundraiser not just for the Insurance Charities, but also for Suffolk Mind. Suffolk Mind provides a full range of counselling services and support mechanisms for all aspects of mental health. It is just one of the many good causes that our profession supports with fundraising; this is an activity we should never lose sight of, as we support those who need the help provided by these vital charities as well as the Insurance Charities.
CHARTERED CONSULTATION
"The Chartered ethos involves three core elements: nurturing knowledge, client-centricity and serving society"
On a different note, we have been in consultation since August 2018 in relation to Corporate Chartered status and we have now published the report directly to existing holders of Corporate Chartered status and through our member engagement channels. The report, which responds to the consultation process, sets out the direction that we plan to take for Corporate Chartered status in the coming years. We are seeking to reposition the proposition for the future. In this way, we are responding both to the consultation but also aligning more closely with the CII's overarching purpose. Perhaps at the heart of the process is ensuring that Corporate Chartered continues to be clear as a shared public declaration of professional standards. Put simply, the Chartered ethos involves three core elements: nurturing knowledge, client-centricity and serving society.
Turning to another exciting initiative, the CII New Generation programme takes 40 CII members representing broking, claims, underwriting and the London market, and tasks them with challenging and improving current practices within their sector, making a positive impact on the insurance profession as a whole. The 2016 Claims New Generation group took on the task of looking at the subject of riot claims handling. While riots are not commonplace in the UK, they provide unique claims challenges, which the group recognised. They have now completed their riot claims handling best practices guide, which was recently published and is a really excellent document.
What I was pleased to see was a core objective that read like this -- "to help riot victims, whether they are individuals or businesses, to get back on their feet following a traumatic setback". And for me, that is a key reminder of what we are all here to do as financial services professionals, which is to help deliver financial protection to individuals and businesses alike, to permit ordinary daily activity to continue, often in extraordinary circumstances.
Jonathan Clark, president, CII