Changig business to improve their standing with consumers and ensure they achieve compliance with the FSA’s regulatory regime are the main reasons for making changes.
Insurers and insurance brokers have outlined a range of measures during the UK Insurance and Financial Services Conference at the QEII Centre in London - hosted by the Chartered Insurance Institute.
Contract certainty, conflicts of interest, conduct of business, transparency of remuneration were all identified as areas where concerted effort would drive up standards to the benefit of consumers across the market. Technical training was seen as key to boosting the performance and reputation of the sector.
Dennis Mahoney of brokers Aon said the industry should drive change without waiting for a regulatory imperative: “FSA accreditation is not like a driving test that you can pass and then forget. It is a lifetime process. We need to upgrade the quality of our people and our skill-sets.”
Duncan Boyle of RSA said positive change could be achieved without the need for hefty investment in new systems: “What we are looking for is a change of culture. It’s simple: we need to eradicate errors, impose discipline on our process and increase the clarity of our communications.”
Michael Hammond of broker JLT Risk Solutions said effective action by the industry would stave off the threat of more severe regulation: “We should put our own house in order. We certainly don’t want people coming to us and telling us how to run our businesses. We need to go ‘back to basics’ on training and boost technical standards.”
Bronek Masojada of Hiscox said the industry should publish figures on its internal performance as a way to focus thinking: “They might make uncomfortable reading for some but they would provide an incentive for improvement.”
Pierre Lefevre of Groupama said that the FSA’s Treating Customers Fairly initiative would inevitably lead to a step-change in the way the insurance industry interacted with its policyholders: “We have millions of satisfied customers and relatively few complaints but we could still make progress. We need a change in culture and we need it to be led by senior management. The momentum for change will only come from the top.”
