Luke Holloway reflects on the work of the CII New Generation group for 2020/2021
The CII New Generation group for 2020/2021 has completed the CII’s flagship talent programme by presenting its projects to members of the CII board and CEO Sian Fisher.
In all, 40 of the insurance profession’s most promising young professionals from broking, claims, underwriting and the London market have spent the past year taking part in the programme, which includes visiting the House of Commons, a parliamentary panel discussion, meeting regulators, media training and finally, the presentation of a project aimed at building trust in the insurance profession.
“The New Gen programme commands respect because it is the most tangible example of what the CII is here to do: build public trust in insurance,” says CII policy and public affairs director, and leader of the programme, Dr Matthew Connell. “It gives professionals the platform they need to galvanise action across the sector.”
Broking
First to present was the broking group, with its work on the ‘Future of insurance broking: turning our industry into a profession’.
The core of the project was a proposal to implement a minimum qualification requirement for insurance professionals. The group approached leading voices from throughout the insurance sector to gauge their opinions and the responses they received were overwhelmingly in favour of this.
The group also examined current perceptions around the prestigiousness of broking professionals and the challenges that those entering the profession face in terms of qualifications, as well as the apprenticeships levy and how well young brokers are supported by their firm in taking qualifications.
For the sake of our clients, mandatory qualifications need to be put in place and we would call on the profession, the regulator and government to make that happen. There has been enough talk about it now – it is the right thing to do and certainly the right thing for our clients
Emily Kenna, director of Sense Risk Solutions, said: “We surveyed various groups of customers, including commercial and personal insurance buyers, to understand their perceptions of brokers having a minimum qualification requirement. The results showed that knowledge of staff was voted the most important factor when choosing an insurance broker, even ahead of price.”
Marios Zakakiotis, client executive at broker Sutton Winson, explained: “More than 70% of customers surveyed already believe that brokers are required to have a minimum level of qualifications, but as we know there is no such requirement. We feel that implementing a minimum qualification standard for broking professionals would not only support customers’ perceptions but also provide an excellent source of knowledge, especially for those at entry level.”
“For the sake of our clients, mandatory qualifications need to be put in place and we would call on the profession, the regulator and government to make that happen. There has been enough talk about it now – it is the right thing to do and certainly the right thing for our clients,” concluded Ms Kenna.
Claims
The claims group investigated how roles in the claims profession are evolving and to what extent this is driven by technology and innovation. Their research examined technological trends that could shape future claims processes while considering the skillsets needed.
The group looked at multiple classes of business to help establish high-level similarities and differences in the way in which technology is used and how claims professionals could be affected. Claire Lashbrook, director of operations at Claims Consortium Group, said: “We were incredibly pleased with the data we collected. We had an enormous number of responses to our survey, part of which included broader questions that we could drill into to find out why things are the way they are.”
The research team examined emerging technology including web chats, machine learning, drones, connected homes and virtual video inspections, before asking how well- equipped claims handlers are in using these.
Michael Clowes, lead associate at the Financial Conduct Authority, added: “We found results varied in terms of age group and location but that our sample was generally positive about the technology entering into claims, with a majority saying they had confidence in the training they had received in using it. However, some respondents felt it was there to reduce operational costs rather than make the customer journey better, so although claims professionals overall are positive, there is scepticism in some areas.”
Ms Lashbrook concluded: “We now look forward to feeding our findings into the CII Professional Map and into future work being done by the CII to help understand innovation in the claims sector.”
Underwriting
The underwriting group focused on ‘The future skills of insurance underwriting’. Through their research, the group uncovered key trends disrupting the insurance underwriting function, resulting in a shift in additional skillsets required for the future.
These ranged from areas of risk capture, such as artificial intelligence- driven image recognition and speech analytics; assessment factors such as price scenario modelling and data visualisation tools; and areas in active portfolio management, such as real-time data analytics and product governance requirements.
The group surveyed underwriters of different levels of seniority and areas of specialism, asking if they believed underwriters will need to be more IT literate, whether AI will play a more significant role in the evaluation of risk, and if they thought the skills needed by underwriters will vary in future, depending on whether they deal with small, more uniform risks or larger, more complex risks.
They also investigated whether underwriting professionals felt that a revision of the CII module content would be an effective way of ensuring the underwriters of the future have the skills required for the role.
Will Stodhart, technical underwriter of RSA, said: “Key findings included that almost 80% of respondents think that AI will play an increasing role in risk evaluation in the future, with 65% believing that this will lead to fewer underwriting roles.”
“Some 85% of respondents agree that there is a data skills gap in underwriting functions and that adaption to this will be key for the career progression of underwriters, with a skew in consensus towards more senior professionals,” added Sam Rumball, underwriter of professional indemnity at Allianz. “More than 70% of respondents agreed there will be more emphasis on underwriters having a working knowledge of key regulation; however, views were split on whether underwriters will be responsible for the environmental, social and governance impact of their portfolios in future.”
Dan Rakes, property and casualty underwriter at Allianz, concluded: “Our project would further propose
building a ‘Future Underwriting Skills Maturity Assessment Tool’ with the CII to support carriers
in identifying the key areas they should prioritise and address in their underwriting strategy.”
To find out more about the New Gen programme, visit: www.cii.co.uk/new-generation-programme
Luke Holloway is editor of The Journal
