ldoherty

“Since March 2021, it has been well documented that the PFS Board has been under tremendous stress and pressure from the CII from threats such as de-registering the PFS and flooding the PFS Board with Institute Directors,” she said. “This pressure and stress has increased exponentially since the CII appointed further Institute Directors to the PFS Board on December 21, 2022, with the intention to appoint a majority after a 30 day consultation period. All done under the guise of alleged ‘governance failings’.”

Stuart stated that she and her fellow member directors “fully refute” all allegations made by the CII and said that over the course of her time with the PFS, she and her fellow member directors had performed their fiduciary responsibilities with diligence, professionalism and integrity. She alleged that the CII’s accusations are baseless and condemned them as “a clear attempt to justify accessing PFS funds to support a failing CII.”

She added that she has spent over 440 hours over the last 12 months volunteering on a pro bono basis across a range of PFS-related activities and that this has been to the detriment of her own business and family life. Stuart also asserted that the pressure currently facing the PFS board has been to the detriment of her health – and as a result, she has decided to step down.

Stuart that the CII has created challenging circumstances for members of the PFS board for almost two years now, Stuart alleged that these: “include numerous instances, in my opinion, of unprofessional and hostile behaviour of CII appointed persons, coupled with a failure of Institute Directors to attend PFS Board meetings, threats to make PFS Board meetings inquorate, ‘flood’ the PFS Board with Institute Directors, and to ‘de-register’ the PFS.”

Stuart also alleged that while the PFS has gone from strength to strength in recent years, she believes the CII is “running out of money”.

“Since RDR, the financial planning profession has grown, evolved and seen a significant raising of professional standards,” she said. “The PFS has been a key driver of this… In my view, the same cannot be said of the CII. As the delivery of insurance products to consumers has evolved and innovated over the last ten years, the CII [has] arguably failed to keep up with these changes. It is my view that a disastrous combination of arrogance, complacency and misguided business priorities by the leadership of the CII has potentially led to a catastrophic failing of the CII.”

She cited declining membership numbers, a “dated” exam and learning proposition, a lack of investment in exam delivery as key drivers of the CII’s alleged financial difficulties – coupled with a supposed massive overspend on failed transformation and IT projects.

“However,” Stuart said, “rather than being transparent about the causes for the financial situation, they have sought to lay the blame on the PFS through the allegation that the PFS has underpaid their share of group costs, a myth that was clearly dispelled when in 2022 the then PFS Board appointed a well respected accountancy firm to undertake a thorough and independent review of the recharge and services provided.

“Despite what I believe to be the very worrying state of the CII finances, they have professed that the action they have taken is ‘not about money’. However, it is crucial for members to be aware that based on legal advice received , claiming that there have been “governance failings”, is the only way in which the CII could justify to members the addition of further Institute Directors to the PFS Board to create a majority.”

Strongly refuting the allegations made by the CII in respect of governance failings, she said she believes these allegations are “blatantly the only avenue remaining for the CII to access the funds I believe they need to prevent the organisation completely failing.”

“As a member of the PFS and the PFS Board, I cannot support the actions taken by the CII and by implying they are forming the majority without consultation, they have treated members with utter contempt,” she said. “Furthermore, I am disgusted with the way the CII has behaved towards the PFS, the PFS members, and the PFS Board.

“I believe they have attempted to gain access to the PFS reserves through bullying and intimidation of the PFS Board, and when the member directors stood firm and these tactics failed, through the only option remaining to them – in my opinion, a cynical, disingenuous and autocratic takeover of the PFS Board using unfounded and spurious allegations as the reason.”

Stuart said that while it has been an honour to represent members on the board, she will no longer be looking to further the paraplanning and financial planning profession by volunteering with the PFS – and will look to do so in alternative ways. She said she will continue to give her support for the PFS in any way she can and encourages other PFS members to do the same.

However, she said, as these actions will all members, she calls on every member of the PFS and the CII to scrutinise the position of the CII so they can “hold the leadership team of the CII to account for what is in my view is a list of major failings:

• The state of the CII finances and the potentially reckless squander of millions of pounds under the leadership team’s stewardship over the last six years
• The poor quality of the services provided to members, including exam and CPD provision, SPSs, renewal of membership fees, all underpinned by an arcane and failing CRM system
• The complete lack of any corroborating evidence to support their allegations,
• What I believe to be the misinformation and misdirection from the CII to draw any and all attention away from their own potential governance failings.”

Stuart went on to state her belief that the CII is hoping to: “access and move some or all of the PFS reserves to the CII and are relying on member ‘apathy’ and disinterest to enable them do this.”

She finished her statement with the following entreaty: “I therefore implore all members of the PFS, to take whatever action you can to help prevent the wholesale strip-mining of the PFS and its reserves, by and for the benefit of propping up what I believe is a badly run, financially exhausted CII. Demand an EGM, use your voice and protect your PFS and its reserves from being consumed by the CII forever.”

This feature will be updated later with any statement from the CII.

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ADR has been on something of a rollercoaster ride. Use of mediation was accelerating rapidly until the Covid-19 outbreak, but the pandemic saw mediation numbers drop by over a third during the first six months of lockdown, despite the rapid adoption of online meetings.

The wider deployment of remote technologies should certainly deliver further long-term benefits, enabling more streamlined processes and cutting travel time. However, it’s the underlying goals of cutting court costs and backlogs that have increased the appetite for alternatives to court and tribunal proceedings.

While most people think about formal mediation meetings, when asked about ADR, various processes have been developed over the years, to meet the needs of different legal actions.

For example, an Employment Tribunal claim, must usually be referred to the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) before it can reach an actual tribunal hearing, and anyone trying to bring an action in the Family Court will generally need to attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM).

Covid-19 created a unique set of problems for landlords and tenants that inspired ARAG to develop its own, alternative process for resolving tenancy disputes. But the benefits of this new approach have survived the pandemic and the solution has been enhanced to offer a less adversarial mechanism for helping both our landlord policyholders and their tenants to reach better and more amicable outcomes.

The approach is proving just as important to landlords and tenants who find themselves facing similar dilemmas to those created during the pandemic, as a consequence of the cost-of-living crisis.

ADR is typically much less formal than a court hearing, but a fundamental element in the success of ARAG’s new process has been recognising that a single approach will not be suitable in every case.

As well as the raft of information and resources that our Landlord Legal Solutions policyholders can access, we provide them with customisable digital correspondence and documents that they can use to initiate discussions with a tenant in a measured, structured and, above all, legally sound manner.

If necessary, a landlord can even draft a Deed of Variation online, to spell out any alterations in the terms of a rental agreement that might be agreed with the tenant. This array of tools is supported by ARAG’s industry-leading legal advice helpline which handles thousands of calls from landlords and tenants, each year.

In those cases where it isn’t possible for the parties to come to a mutually satisfactory solution without professional help, solicitors are available to negotiate a legal agreement between the parties.

While the Coronavirus Act may no longer be in force, evicting tenants can still be legally and morally challenging, especially given the current economic situation. However, there are some tenants who may need to bring an end to their tenancy if, for example, they may be relocating or have alternative accommodation to move into. In such circumstances, it can often be possible to negotiate a Deed of Surrender between the two parties, to bring the tenancy to an end on terms agreed between them.

Feedback ARAG has received from both brokers and policyholders shows that the steps we took to create a workable and equitable new process provided a lifeline in the impossible circumstances of the pandemic, and has proved extremely useful ever since.

ARAG has long been a strong advocate of ADR, in whatever form and wherever it can help parties to resolve a legal dispute. It is almost always quicker, less costly and typically less adversarial than going to court.

As backlogs in all areas of the court and tribunal service continue to grow, the value and benefits of ADR are only likely to increase.

Find out: Explore ARAG UK’s full suite of services today

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Heading into 2023, I would encourage the insurance industry to think about openings and closings through the lens of ‘Auld Land Syne,’ which was written by Scottish poet Robert Burns in the late 1700s. 

‘Auld Lang Syne’ roughly translates to “old long since” or “times gone by”. The poem and popular folk song starts with the following verse:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot

And never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot

And auld lang syne?

It questions whether the “old long since” or “times gone by” will be forgotten as we head into a new year. After the years we’ve had from 2020 through 2022, I believe we must not forget “auld lang syne”. The insurance industry must hold onto the old as we embrace the new. 

The past three years have been marred by the global COVID-19 pandemic and the related socio-economic challenges that came with it. While many countries are through the COVID tunnel, others like China are still firmly in its grips. The insurance industry must not forget the lessons learned through the pandemic as it builds new foundations for the future.

COVID impacted everything from the global economy to international supply chains. It reminded businesses and individuals worldwide of the fragility of “normal” existence and the importance of resilience, risk mitigation, and effective risk transfer. That’s a door to important lessons that the insurance industry should never close for good.

The pandemic also changed how insureds engage with their insurance, especially personal insureds. Now more than ever, people are seeking out digital insurance solutions, and they’re more comfortable using insurance apps on their mobile phones to complete simple administrative tasks.

Innovation and new insurance technology is also making waves in the commercial lines arena, and this will continue in 2023. While every year brings new, exciting, technological advances, the industry should be careful to remember the underlying promise of insurance.

With a value proposition set in stone in ‘auld lang syne,’ insurance is about providing financial security and helping businesses and individuals to navigate through the risks of everyday life. That does not change from year to year, no matter how much the industry evolves. That, once again, is a door that cannot be closed or forgotten as the industry embarks on exciting ventures in 2023.

Talent is another area where this idea is relevant. Attracting, training, and retaining talent will be of the utmost importance for the insurance industry worldwide in 2023. While many companies are looking to open new doors to fresh talent, it’s important not to overlook the legacy of talent gone by.

“Auld acquaintance [should not] be forgot.” Seeking the guidance, support, and mentorship of experienced insurance professionals – and providing those services to less experienced colleagues if you’re in a position to do so – will be more important than ever in 2023.

Finally, 2023 could very well be a year of changing market conditions. In commercial lines, rates seem to have stabilised through 2022, meaning insureds are no longer seeing huge back-to-back price increases upon renewal. While that’s positive for insureds, the industry should not close the door on that hard market chapter. There’s a lot of work to do to regain the trust of insureds who feel let down by perpetual rate increases and coverage restrictions.

I believe that is a huge opportunity for the insurance industry in 2023. By learning from ‘auld lang syne’, tapping into the experience of others, and using innovation to transform the industry for the better, the insurance industry can build a bright and bold future.

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“The pandemic brought about a growing demand for digital services which hasn’t lessened, and customers are increasingly – and rightly – dictating the pace of evolution required for our industry,” she said. “This is one of the reasons we soft launched Moja, AXA Retail’s first digital-only brand, earlier this year. Moja is a direct response to customers’ increased requirements for digitally-led and on-demand interactions.

“Developed entirely in-house, which required a massive effort from our teams, Moja has been benchmarked against tech innovators such as Monzo, Klarna and Amazon so that we could deliver a truly seamless, flexible, and simple customer experience. Expect more great things from Moja in 2023.”

For Matthew Edwards (pictured below), consulting actuary at WTW, regulatory reform has played a pivotal role in 2022, especially the thinking and consultation done by HMT and the Bank of England on Solvency II reforms, where – thanks in part to industry lobbying by the ABI, whom WTW supported – the proposed new reforms feel like a “broadly sensible and positive” step forward for insurers.

The return to ‘real not virtual’ people, has been a milestone, he said, with the majority of insurance and consultancy staff back in the office two-three days a week on average. With so many events not done in person since 2019 restarting, a landmark for the team at WTW has been the return to its actuaries’ life and non-life conferences and the WTW Life2022 flagship client event. In addition, 2022 saw WTW open a new office in Edinburgh, in conjunction with nearly 40 hires over the year, including several actuarial apprentices.

The challenges facing insurance in 2022

Foley noted that 2022 was a year of challenge for the insurance profession with uncertainty and constant change buffetting the sector. Coupled with inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, she said, this has caused significant issues for customers which show no sign of relenting. These factors, combined with the FCA pricing reforms and the upcoming Consumer Duty regulations, have placed even more responsibility on insurers to provide customers with the best possible service and products at fair prices.

“AXA’s latest Future Risks Report found that almost half the UK public feel vulnerable in everyday life,” she said. “So, as we all face these challenges, AXA Retail will continue to look at how we can take an active role in supporting and protecting our customers.”

High inflation became a major factor early in 2022, Edwards said, followed by the market tumult of September/October owing to the short-lived Truss policies. Operationally, finding compromise hybrid meeting arrangements that work, rather than meetings which hitherto had been either almost all in person, or entirely virtual. Also operationally, there has been significant resource strain – and there’s been a huge amount of activity across the sector with commercial pressures (e.g. yet more BPA deals) on top of IFRS-17 preparation.

The opportunities  facing insurance in 2022

However, amid these challenges, Edwards said, the year did bring some opportunities for the market.

“The challenge of IFRS-17 implementation was seized on by some insurers to overhaul their financial reporting processes,” he said. “We were particularly pleased to help one multinational insurer move its reporting on to our enterprise-wide automation platform Unify, replacing most of the spreadsheets previously used with a much more robust and manageable interconnected system of workflows and storage.

“We helped another multinational implement a new and extremely useful reporting analysis system, allowing users to drill down into the results across different dimensions to better understand what is driving any changes in the reported results.”

Foley emphasised that despite the challenges faced by the market, the insurance profession is living through a “truly transformational period” which offers a great opportunity to better serve its customers.

“As an industry, we can help bring vibrant growth to the UK economy and benefit wider society in key areas such as the fight against climate change, improving access to insurance and doing more to prevent and protect people from everyday mishaps and accidents,” she said. “There is now a huge opportunity for the industry to revolutionise the services we provide, how we provide them and how we reach people.

“To achieve this, we also need to widen the industry’s talent pool, offer new digitally focused jobs, and upskill our people to ensure the products and services we provide continue to remain relevant for our customers’ evolving needs.”

How the insurance profession fared in 2022

Amid a year of such challenges and opportunities, there were plenty of things the insurance profession did well and other areas that stood out for improvement. Exploring the latter, Foley highlighted how firms across the sector should focus on improving their digital capability in 2023. The last few years have shown just how much we can leverage and incorporate technology and use it to be more innovative for our customers, she said.

“There is plenty to learn from other brands and industries, particularly the tech sector, so insurers should be taking learnings from this space to develop and improve the overall customer experience,” Foley added. “The majority of people use online services in their everyday lives, so they increasingly expect efficient, easy and even enjoyable interactions with the organisations from which they obtain their services and products.

“The insurance industry isn’t quite there yet, but I’m confident that huge strides will be made in 2023 which will not only be great for our customers but will also help lay the foundations for the sector’s continuing success.”

As to what the insurance industry did especially well in 2022, Edwards spotlighted how insurers are now engaging heavily with ESG, with climate being a tangible and large component of that, but with many other areas involved.

“By way of example,” he said, “an IFoA climate working party survey found that all responding participants explicitly cover climate in their risk framework, and explicitly cover it in their ORSAs (albeit that is now compulsory). In a similar vein, the larger insurers are demonstrating increasing care about defining their broader social purpose and contribution to society beyond fulfilling their core insurance offering (which is itself a valuable thing for society).”

From her perspective, Foley said, while the insurance industry has experienced a plethora of challenges in 2022, she believes it has responded well to all of them.

“While there were lots of successes I could call out, one key achievement has been the implementation of the FCA pricing reforms,” she said. “The huge efforts made to meet the deadline earlier this year were worth it, and it has been great to see customers benefitting from more transparency and a level playing field. This in turn has provided them with a better overall experience and gives insurers a greater opportunity to build loyalty for the long term.”

What did 2022 bring for you and your business? Feel free to share your experiences in the comment box below.

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“BAU is fine but how do we then express, learn and stretch ourselves – and how do we get ourselves into the best position to really push on to that next stage?”

That is the question that energises and motivates Michael Williams (pictured), Simply Business’s head of MGA pricing, data and analytics, and his entire MGA team. And so, it holds them in good stead that it’s never a once-and-done question for Simply Business but rather a constantly moving target.

Find out more about the unique range of products and services available from Earnix today

Since joining the team eight years ago, Williams has seen the company go from strength to strength – with the MGA team alone increasing from four to 20 colleagues, while the wider group has increased from fewer than 300 people across two offices to over 1,000 employees across four offices in two countries. It has been a whirlwind journey, he said, and successfully navigating such a phenomenal rate of growth requires considerable strategic planning.

“With the [MGA] team growing at such a pace, we decided to do a strategic review at the tail end of 2017 to find out what we needed to do to be best-in-class, and to enable us to scale, and to have that agility and flexibility piece,” he said. “Having done that, we realised we needed to have a bit more focus around our technical pricing element. Our portfolio management, our underwriting and everything else is best in class, so how can we make sure that our whole MGA [offering] is best-in-class?”

With Simply Business’s technical pricing functionality identified as the key driver to Simply Business reaching that USP, the team entered into discussions with vendors across the market – and quickly zeroed in on Earnix as a potential partner. What stood out about Earnix, Williams said, was not just the solutions on offer but also the partnership-first approach they take to providing those solutions and ensuring they remain relevant and fit-for-purpose.

Earnix both recognised and rose to the challenge of creating a useable, scaleable product for the commercial lines space, given the lack of data that traditionally exists within it, he said. But the Earnix team also went one step further, identifying the governance and audibility considerations that go along with any such solution.

“That’s really key to us,” he said. “Because you have your static methods and manual documentation, but actually having that rigour and that true audit piece, that’s what set this apart as a great all-in-one solution that we could work with. One of the USPs that Earnix brings us is that everything is in one package, you don’t have to bolt-on additional modules.

“With some other vendors in the market, you’ll buy one package to build out your technical model and then you have to buy another module in order to deploy to the market. But it’s all in-house and in one place with Earnix which is beautiful as it gives us one scaleable package that we can deploy to market really quickly.”

Simply Business has not looked back since the partnership began, he said, and has been deploying Earnix’s groundbreaking pricing solution with remarkable success since 2020. The MGA team’s deployment time has come down from months of requiring cross-functional support down to weeks – and in some cases even to a matter of hours.

Williams noted that having that end-to-end ownership of your pricing capabilities and not being reliant on other changes having to go live first is a “complete game-changer”. What’s been especially impactful for him and his team is having this functionality in place during the rapid upheaval of COVID and the ongoing tumult of the inflation spike.

“Inflation has definitely been the challenge for this year,” he said. “We are literally pushing the button with some further changes this week to allow our products to combat inflation but we’re well geared up for the inflationary challenges just due to how much work we did over the COVID period because we deployed and went live at the beginning of the pandemic.

“[It’s interesting] building models where you’re trying to predict customer behaviour and their tendency to buy at different price points because the understanding of customer behaviour essentially goes the window when you have a pandemic thrown into the mix! So, we’ve had that journey from how often we thought we’d have to optimise to how often we ended up having to optimise in order to react to changes in the market and government announcements.”

Simply Business has a substantial ‘high street book’, he said, which was especially impacted by the constant COVID-related shutdowns and as such, demanded great proactivity from insurance pricing to navigate rapidly shifting consumer demand. Being able to be so proactive, and to build such advanced predictive models and track consumer demand and behaviour has been integral to the company’s continued success.

“It has been a fun, but challenging time and a massive learning curve at the same time,” he said. “Because there was so much happening all at once across all of the market, it was all hands on deck. And that tooling allowed us to react to that market and come out of it in a really good position.

“We were one of the few insurers that were actually able to really grow in that space. Naturally, it was not at the rate we would have liked to but our books weren’t as severely impacted as some of the market has been. And it was great to be in a position to come out of that go into the [post-COVID] period and kick on from there.”

Working with a partner so keen to both shape and support your ambitious growth trajectory has been critical to the success of Simply Business in the last few years, Williams said, and has allowed the insurance businesss to really zero in on its core value proposition – that of delivering a valuable product to the customer. With Earnix’s proactive, predictive model capability strength behind it, Simply Business is well-placed to truly tailor prices to its customers based on their unique risk profiles, a proposition that is translating extremely well across the insurance ecosystem.

“What we’re able to do is be really fair to our customers and make sure we’re targeting the right cohorts of customers so they get the unique offering that they deserve,” he said. “One of our mantras at Simply Business is that we appreciate that every small business is different. And trying to provide cover to so many different businesses online is really a challenge but we’re here to make sure we can do that and provide an accurate price for that risk.

“And Earnix have been instrumental in working with us on that… It has been a long process but it has been a pleasurable experience…. They definitely push along to that next avenue and that next stage, and they’re always keen for us to test new solutions that they’re bringing to the market and we’re always happy to embrace that as well. I have nothing but good things to say about the partnership. And for anyone who tries to get me to move to another platform, I’m afraid I’ll have to humbly decline.”

Find out more about the unique range of products and services available from Earnix today.

Michael Williams joined Simply Business eight years ago. He now serves as the firm’s head of MGA pricing, data and analytics.

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Equine and bloodstock insurance broker Lycetts will continue to back British National Hunt jockey Charlie Deutsch (pictured with Pink Legend), renewing its sponsorship which goes back to 2017.

“I’m delighted not only by Lycetts’ continued support, but by its longstanding dedication to the world of racing, especially during these challenging times,” said the Gloucestershire-based hockey, who achieved his first Grade One win at Sandown in February.

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As mentioned by Barnes, “cynical” is a word that’s been used to describe the recent development in the ongoing CII-PFS rift. Past presidents Sarah Lord and Garry Hale both chose this descriptor.

On LinkedIn, Lord – who is co-opted to attend and speak at PFS meetings until next year’s annual general meeting – also wrote: “As immediate past president, I strongly refute the allegations made by the CII.”

As previously reported, the CII had cited “serious and significant governance failures” at PFS, as well as a failed independent mediation between the two camps.

Meanwhile, Insurance Business can reveal that there’s a sign-up page asking PFS members to “act now to stop the CII coup” and make their voice heard.

It’s unclear who specifically set up the page, which displays a message asserting that the CII needs PFS members more than PFS members need the CII.

“The PFS is responsible for the vast majority of CII ‘group’ revenues, and all of the surplus,” reads the message. “When exam fees are included, we estimate this to be over 60% of group revenue. There is £19 million of surplus revenue, which was paid by, and belongs to, the PFS membership.”

Part of it, referring to the board appointments, also says: “Make it clear that the membership is deeply unhappy with this move.”

On the other side of the fence, new CII communications director Christopher Shadforth defended the wider body by posting a list of supposed myths and misperceptions surrounding the relationship between the CII and the PFS.

Shadforth, who came onboard in October, stated that it’s a myth that the CII has bullied its way on to the board of its subsidiary.

“The PFS Articles of Association establish that the PFS board should include institute directors, and there are provisions for the CII Group to appoint the majority of PFS board members,” he declared. “That is the mechanism that the CII Group board has needed to utilise, given the serious governance failings that have been observed.”

As of this writing, the said governance failings have yet to be outlined publicly.

Shadforth also denied the move as being a “cash grab,” while making a direct pronouncement that “there is no plan whatsoever” to deregister the PFS.

Meanwhile, it’s been reported that an emergency PFS board meeting failed to take place on Thursday due to a lack of attendees from the institute directors’ roster. All member directors, including Barnes, were present.

PFS member Anthony Villis, managing director of First Wealth, said “we have a right to be angry” on LinkedIn.

What are your thoughts on this? Share in the comments below.

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Howden Group business UKGlobal Leeds has acquired Logic Insurance Services for an undisclosed sum.

“We look forward to welcoming Craig Dinnewell and his clients into the business from January 3, 2023, and want to extend our thanks and gratitude to the people in both teams who helped make this happen,” said the expanded brokerage.

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Lonmar Global Risks, dba Ropner Insurance Service, has named John Naughton (pictured) as executive director, as part of its marine cargo team.

According to a release, Naughton’s appointment will help drive growth plans for its marine cargo team, particularly when it comes to freight and logistics. Naughton, who joins from Gallagher, will report to Lonmar managing director of cargo Simon Wilson.

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International insurance brokerage Howden has agreed to acquire Assimovie, a TV, film and advertising insurance broker based in Italy.

According to Howden, the transaction is part of its commitment to invest in expertise by creating a sport and entertainment specialty for the benefit of Italian clients. The deal will also give it one of the largest TV and film production books of business in Italy, with a goal of becoming a leading sport and entertainment broker in Europe.

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