Insurance Broking Faculty

Business Continuity Management – an exclusive interview

In this video, Lynn Richards-Cole Chairman of the CII’s Insurance Broking Faculty interviews Lyndon Bird, International Technical Director of the Business Continuity Institute. They discuss the importance of business continuity management, and the link to business interruption insurance, as well as exploring what a business continuity programme should look like.

To watch this video click here ^{*members only}

The BCI was established in 1994 to promote the art and science of business continuity management and assist organisations in preparing for and surviving minor and large-scale man-made and natural disasters. The Institute enables members to obtain guidance and support from fellow practitioners, as well as offers professional training and certification programmes.

To find out more about the BCI please visit www.thebci.org

AMII 2010 Exhibition & Conference - Working Together for a Healthier Britain

1 July 2010, Hinckley Island Hotel

AMII 2010 run by the Association of Medical Insurance Intermediaries is the place to find everything you need to sell private medical insurance in today's market, whether you are a specialist healthcare intermediary or an IFA considering the options presented by the sector.

The conference programme will address the future of healthcare provision and funding in the light of the pressures on the NHS with keynote presentations from Dr Natalie-Jane Macdonald, MD, Bupa Health & Wellness and Professor Karol Sikora, CancerPartnersUK. They will then join a panel debate to examine how groundbreaking partnerships could be formulated to meet the unprecedented challenges facing Britain's healthcare system.

A series of breakout sessions will focus on sector issues and general marketing advice. The AMII exhibition will be open all day where visitors can network with the major providers and other industry representatives.

The evening closes with an optional gala dinner with comedy from Jack Whitehall and dancing to a live band.

For more informaion and to book your place click here

Ethics: making the right choices

The CII’s General Insurance Faculties held a roundtable debate in London in March of this year to discuss the topic of behaving ethically. Within the insurance industry, there is a firm belief that we are honourable people with high ethical standards. However, as this free-flowing and lively debate revealed, there are still plenty of questions to be asked and answered by the industry as well as plenty of opportunity for improvement.

To read the full report please click here ^{*members only}

Transparency Roundtable Report

Transparency, by its very nature, demands an openness and willingness to change and develop.

In September the faculty held a roundtable event, a number of brokers from across the country attended, to discuss the topical issue of transparency and the business case for it.

The discussions covered all aspects of Transparency from financial transparency, transparent documentation to skills and people.

The debate was lively, interesting and informative. To read the full report please click here.

Seizing the opportunity

Continuing professional development (CPD) has an important part to play in maintaining a strong and valued industry for the future.

As you are aware The CII has been examining the role of CPD in today’s work environment. To gain wider views the CII hosted a roundtable, inviting a wide selection of industry practitioners from all the CII faculties to give their views. This report captures the debate that took place; the main areas of discussion were-

• CPD content and oversight;
• Measuring activity and effectiveness;
• The employers’ role and engagement;
• Raising public confidence.

By joining a broad range of practitioners from various industry sectors and at varying levels, the roundtable was a great success resulting in an interesting and lively debate. Some valuable points were made, along with a number of good suggestions that will be explored further.

To read the full report please click here.

Counter terrorism half day workshop

The CII’s London Market Faculty has once again teamed up with the National Counter Terrorism Security Office to bring you Project Argus, the counter terrorism workshop for businesses.
Find out more here

CII CPD Review

The CII Group has published the summary findings of our first ever Continuing Professional Development (CPD) survey. The survey, undertaken in autumn 2008, attracted responses from over 3,500 General Insurance Faculty members. The key findings will provide an important fact base to inform the CII’s review of CPD requirements going forward, with next steps to include a discussion paper outlining the key issues facing CPD today.

Our aims are to increase the relevance of CPD, help members, employers and the public to see the benefits of undertaking professional development, and increase awareness of the many existing CPD opportunities.

Please click here to view the survey findings, What you told us about CPD.

World-class Service

This new piece of research by the Insurance Broking faculty and Ernst & Young sought to investigate what ‘world class’ service looks like, and the resulting report makes for vital reading. It reveals a detailed analysis of priority service dimensions, key interaction points and importantly investigated to what effect service is fit for purpose, outlining areas for improvement.

The report has been optimised for the web, and as part of this we have removed any blank pages which are necessary in the printed version (e.g. chapter dividers). As a result, the page numbers are not consecutive, but no content is missing.

Delivering World-class Service - Full Report launch

For a competitive advantage in a changing mid-corporate commercial insurance market

The CII hosted a breakfast event at the BIBA Conference in Manchester to mark the launch of a research paper on Delivering World Class Service in the mid-corporate commercial lines market, produced by the Institute in conjunction with Ernst & Young. Over 40 leading lights from the broking and insurer market assembled to debate key issues, with a good-natured but lively debate covering a wide range of topics.

Among the themes to emerge was the role of insurers in the provision of high-quality service. Should brokers blame insurers or should they seize control of service issues? Should brokers be more discriminating in their choice of insurer - or is the problem that too few insurers dominate the market, reducing the choice.

The competence of staff at both broker and insurer offices was also highlighted, with attendees agreeing that brokers are best advised to invest in training and development as part of general efforts to boost knowledge and capability within the sector. Learning was identified, alongside standards, ethics and continuous development, as a cornerstone of professionalism.

Perhaps predictably, the debate covered the impact of price on the insurance market. Delegates agreed that the focus should be on value rather than on striving to reduce the size of the premium in order to get business on the books.