CII marks 125th anniversary

To mark the anniversary the Chartered Insurance Institute has published a special edition of The Journal and a CII Radio podcast, reflecting on the power of honourable rivals in business coming together in 1897 to explore ways to raise professional standards and ways Local Institutes have adapted and evolved to offer localised support to insurance and personal finance professionals in the 21^st century.

To further celebrate the landmark occasion volunteers who lead our 56 Local Institutes, 26 Personal Finance Society Regional Committees and five membership societies will unite at this year’s Ambassadors in Action conference, taking place in Birmingham on 17 May, to reflect on ways we can work together to deliver our common purpose to “secure and justify the confidence of the public” in the insurance and personal finance profession and award those who have gone above and beyond to support their peers in the midst of the pandemic.

Local Institute, Regional Committee and practitioner society volunteers will also hear about the feedback received from members via the Shaping the future together consultation, which was launched last year to understand the needs and expectations of members and other key stakeholders.

One of the key takeaways from the consultation, which saw more than 2,000 insurance and personal finance participants share their views on how to strengthen professionalism and public trust while ensuring members are at the heart of all the CII does, was the need for a common strategy, clear purpose and objectives for Local Institutes, Regional Committees and membership societies.

Good practice on how to engage members in the 21^st century will also be shared at the conference, which will be held as a face-to-face event for the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Peter Blanc, President of the Chartered Insurance Institute, said: “The CII’s history demonstrates the progress that can be achieved by the coming together of our committed network of volunteers via the Local Institutes and Societies, in order to raise public trust in the profession and support the development of skills, knowledge and sharing of expertise.

“At the 60^th anniversary of the founding of the Federation, G.K. Greening, then President of the Chartered Insurance Institute, described our institution as still having growing pains. I applaud our local institutes for their continued effort and commitment to ensuring we evolve how we deliver the benefits members held dear more than a century ago to best meet the needs of today’s professionals.

“The Shaping the future together consultation showed the value of coming together in friendly discourse to distil the lessons of the past, share experience of present challenges and develop insight into the future risks faced by the public.

“Our past shows our strength as a profession comes from mutual respect between honourable rivals in business, maintaining ethical standard plus the continued commitment to developing skills and knowledge for the benefit of the society we serve, which is why I look forward to sharing how the CII’s future strategy will be informed by your coming together last year to share their views on how we can best support insurance and personal finance professionals in order to raise public trust.”