CII Presidential Manifesto
The Next Generation of Talent
Talented people are the lifeblood of insurance and financial services, and
I believe that attracting and cultivating them is essential to growth in the
face of competition, and to help us nurture our future leaders.
While good progress in being made, the overall perception from the outside is at best mixed,
particularly among those considering our profession as a career. So we must take coordinated and
collective steps to address this, and the Chartered Insurance Institute is uniquely positioned to lead
this sector-wide effort.
The CII has demonstrated its ability to instil enthusiasm for the skills and talent agenda to
individuals, and with a 100,000-strong membership, is well placed to support practitioners aspiring
to excellence.
Our call for collective sector-wide action builds on this success, and we have already
seen a number of CII initiatives to embark on this journey:
• the Discover Risk initiative promoting general insurance careers to young people;
• the new Discover Fortunes initiative is doing the same for financial planning careers;
• supporting the B-Live careers and curriculum programme in reaching out to school students;
• at the university level, we are developing university degree courses to link with our professional
qualifications;
• the Aldermanbury Declaration advocating skills development across the general insurance sector;
and finally
• in the financial advice sector, we are helping the sector to meet (and exceed) the professional
standards required with changes to retail investment regulation.
The direction of travel is good, and the evidence is starting to show in the CII’s latest Skills Report
published in September 2011. Compared to previous years, more employers are offering work
placements to young people, and getting involved in initiatives such as Discover Risk. However, we still
trail many other sectors and professions in engaging with the education system and young people.
We will continue to build on recent successes but it will require a collective effort from across the
sector if we are to gain the parity of esteem with other professions that will help aspirant young
professionals into insurance.
The CII’s Charter Centenary in 2012 is a perfect backdrop for our Talent Manifesto. In the midst of
celebrating a century as a Chartered body, we call on our profession to support the building and
nurturing of our leaders for the next century.
Julian James
President
