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The Financial Times revealed that Credit Suisse, which had a deep relationship with Greensill, provided the group with a $140 million loan in October 2020, less than five months before its collapse. The documents showed that part of the loan’s proceeds would be used to set up a “captive insurance firm” to provide the group with coverage for risky lending it carried out, according to people familiar with the matter.

A person involved in the negotiations around the loan deemed the deal “mind-boggling” that Credit Suisse believed that “Greensill would be allowed to build an insurance company,” despite the growing issues it was facing at that time.

On September 1, 2020, before Credit Suisse finalised the loan, Australian insurance firm The Bond and Credit Company – owned by Tokio Marine – confirmed that it would not renew a crucial policy that expired in six months.

Credit Suisse informed the Financial Times that it was “not informed about any insurance discontinuation until February 22, 2021.”

“Credit Suisse continues to pursue all possible angles in order to recover cash for investors in the supply chain finance funds,” the bank said, as reported by Financial Times.

After Greensill’s collapse, Credit Suisse was able to recover the loan as it had a first-ranking charge across the firm’s assets – with Financial Times reporting that the loan’s collateral included invoices to companies that denied ever doing the business stated on the documents. The bank has also overhauled its risk management safeguards since Greensill’s collapse and after losing $5.5 billion on the implosion of Archegos Capital.

Since its collapse, Greensill creditors have shown concern over if insurance contracts will pay out after the group’s collapse in 2021. Meanwhile, Lex Greensill – who previously blamed the non-renewal of his company’s trade credit insurance for the business’s demise – and other ex-directors of the insolvent firm are expected to face disqualification proceedings.

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“We’d seen them and their team at events and things, and they are very well-respected,” he said. “So, I spoke to them about what their succession planning was, and whether they had any plans for what they were going to do next. Over time, we agreed a deal and then it was just a case of getting the FCA to do their bit before, in November, they became part of The Needham Group.”

Why Corporate Insurance Solutions was the right fit

As with all the deals done by Needham in the past, Lowe said, CIS was the right fit for a variety of reasons – not least for its talented team and shared values. CIS’s book of business also provided great symmetry, he said, because it aligned closely with Needham’s core areas of business and was well within the group’s comfort zone. That the company directors and their team would come across under the terms of the deal was another critical advantage.

“It was key for us, as it was with Baldersons, that there was already a team in place, already a manager of the office there,” he said. “We’re not looking to change anything people-wise. The people still work with each other, with their clients. We’re just hopefully improving the offering that they can deliver to their clients. That’s really the aim.”

The key concerns facing insurance brokers

Whether considering or completing an acquisition, Lowe said, the philosophy of Needham is clear and it centres around the question, “what can we do to help the existing business to achieve more?” Looking across the market, he highlighted that two key pain points are frustrating insurance brokers at the moment – the level of compliance required and access to insurers.

Needham’s offering has proven very attractive to broking leaders looking for the next steps and keen to circumvent these challenges. The group has its own compliance team, he said, and is able to navigate the complex regulatory environment in which broking businesses operate. In addition, it recently went live on Acturis which has given the team access to a lot of very strong insurance companies.

The move to Acturis aligned with the group’s rebrand as when filling out new documentation, the team realised they needed a company name to bring all the businesses together. This was particularly important, Lowe said, as a critical part of Needham’s M&A offering is understanding the value and history of an acquired business’s name and ensuring they can keep that part of their identity.

To bring everything together under the umbrella of a company name was essential and as the group has a few more acquisitions planned for 2023, it made sense to do that sooner rather than later. It sets the business up for the next five-to-10 years of trading, he said, and makes it a great deal easier to sit down with other business owners and explain The Needham’s group philosophy and offering.

What’s next for The Needham Group?

“We’ve got a couple of other acquisitions lined up at the moment for next year,” he said. “And they’re following exactly the same philosophy where we’re sitting down with those owners and we’re asking them ‘what keeps you awake at night?’ And the answer is [always] increased regulation and having those relationships with insurers. They’re the two key drivers for them in thinking about who to partner with going forward.

“When we say, ‘well, you’ll keep your name’. That name that’s been part of your business for however long [you’ve been operating] will be retained, and you’ll become part of The Needham Group, and we’ll sort out all your compliance and we’ll give you access to some more markets, and higher-level access to some of the markets you’re already dealing with – well, that’s what they want, so they like that approach.”

Looking to Needham’s future, Lowe highlighted that M&A is only part of its growth strategy and one that has to work in tandem with continued organic growth as the business aims to hit a turnover target of £20-plus million GWP by 2025.

“So, the plan for 2023 is to keep speaking with more business owners, explaining our offering and seeing if it is of interest to them and the businesses,” he said. “I expect to have a lot of conversations next year with business owners promoting The Needham Group. I know some of them will love what we are proposing, and it will be suitable for us to take those discussions further. I’ve already had some conversations that may come to something, they may not, but we just need to keep talking to people.”

What are some of the key pain points you are seeing impact insurance brokers considering selling their businesses? Feel free to comment on your findings below.

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DAC Beachcroft partner Toby Vallance (pictured) has been elected as London FOIL president for 2023.

“Toby is a long-time member of London FOIL’s executive committee and knows the London Market inside out – he is perfectly qualified to take the helm and lead the organisation during these uncertain times of financial turmoil across the globe,” said Forum of Insurance Lawyers chief executive Laurence Besemer.

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Peloso is an expert in environmental and global climate issues, and has authored numerous studies and reports on sustainability and climate risk. She holds a PhD in environment from Duke University and a law degree from Stanford University. She is a board member of the Environmental Law Institute and a past board member of the Surfrider Foundation. She is a former member of the American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy and Resources Council.

“I am delighted to welcome Maggie to Chubb,” said Evan G. Greenberg, chairman and CEO of Chubb. “She has worked closely with us as outside counsel and demonstrated her leadership and expertise on a wide range of climate issues. As an insurer, our business is to provide protection to our insureds and offer them resilience against the threat of a changing climate through our products and services.

“We encourage and actively support societies’ efforts to transition to net-zero while supporting in a responsible way the need for energy security. Maggie’s experience and deep insight on climate issues will advance Chubb’s leading role in meeting the challenges of climate change to the benefit of our clients and society.”

“Chubb is engaged in research and advocacy on climate issues, both internally and externally, through industry institutions and international organisations,” said Joseph Wayland, executive vice president and general counsel for Chubb Group. “Maggie’s expertise and perspective will be critical as we further deepen our understanding of how underwriting policies can facilitate the reduction of [greenhouse gas] emissions, and as we continue to work actively to advance our industry’s expertise in climate change mitigation and adaptation.”

As executive director of the Chubb Charitable Foundation, Peloso will lead the foundation in expanding its reach and further its mission to support projects that solve problems in measurable and sustainable ways.

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“But that can only be truly effective when there’s a good deal of predictability about the market and how it’s performing,” he said. “What we’ve got at the moment is a situation where that future predictability is super challenging and it is not an issue specific just to the insurance industry. You’ve got both the direct and indirect impacts of inflation so it is pretty much a perfect storm of internal and external pressures.”

Insurers at the heart of weathering the financial storms buffeting consumers

As a protection industry first and foremost, insurance companies are very much at the centre of that storm and are having to navigate their way to safer shores for themselves as well as the consumers and businesses they protect. Coupland highlighted that the current inflationary environment is impacting the attitudes of insurers when it comes to pricing

Pricing is front and centre because if it takes insurers too long to make a pricing or underwriting adjustment, where historically they may have been able to limp through that inefficiency, now it’s going to hit them very hard.

“Insurers are having to start making some very specific decisions about how they drive those inefficiencies out and drive efficiencies into their organisations, so that when they see a change in the market, they can do something about it, quickly,” he said. “And this subject goes so deep because you’re looking at both the existing and the future-facing impact of inflation [simultaneously].”

Between claims costs escalating, rising energy bills and the spiking cost-of-living crisis – the question on the minds of everyone is ‘where’ and, perhaps more crucially, ‘when’ does this end? And while there are forecasts, he said, it’s an onion effect with each layer being peeled back to reveal another concern – as seen by the compound effect of the cost-of-living crisis on employee wages at the same time as supply chain concerns continue to burgeon.

What’s critical to bear in mind, Coupland said, is that the impact of these underlying financial conditions is not linear as rising inflation is not the only factor impacting premium changes amid changing consumer demands and regulatory frameworks. That’s why it is so important that insurers look to agile and fast-moving pricing systems able to keep pace with these changes.

What challenges is inflation creating for insurers?

“[This environment] is creating challenges for the insurers in terms of how efficient they are, how quickly they can respond, and how quickly they can affect changes in pricing and monitor how effective those changes are,” he said. “And in empowering them to be tactical and strategic, to driving inefficiency out and efficiency in, and enacting wholesale changes to their processes is where, I think, Earnix is beautifully positioned to help these insurers.”

It’s important not just to look at the current environment in terms of its challenges, Coupland said, as with these changing market conditions comes new opportunities for insurers to step back and re-evaluate the underlying product design of insurance. For example, the changes in how people live and work over the last few years, combined with the rise in insurance costs, and the increasing inflationary environment are likely to create additional interest and demand for more innovative insurance solutions such as usage-based and telematics.

How can insurers get ahead of these challenges?

The answer for insurance companies is to be ready and willing to embrace the changes required within their own pricing and underwriting systems to facilitate these changing market conditions – both the challenges and the opportunities. Looking across the market, Coupland highlighted that many insurers now recognise that need and, rather than insisting on extensive transformation projects, they’re increasingly understanding the power of tackling pressing pain points head-on – and are looking to composable, configurable solutions as the answer to doing so.

“It’s a real mindset shift,” he said. “They’re taking a different approach to how they execute on these changes… because when you need to respond to a fast-moving marketplace, you’ve got to be more agile. Whereas historically, the view was, ‘we need to go this way’, that view is being challenged because the industry is seeing evidence of how [utilising] composable, agile solutions can get them where they need to be much more quickly.

“I also think the credibility and trust of seeing how these organisations – and some of them are leading, cutting-edge insurers – have actually implemented these system changes, like with Earnix, and are seeing that value and that benefit and are talking about it and sharing it within their communities and their peer groups, that just adds to the confidence. Fundamentally, there’s a real recognition that there is a better way of getting things done.”

How are you seeing the link between augmented pricing systems and battling inflation evolve? Leave a comment below.

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The deal brings an additional £25 million, 41 staff and over 2,000 clients to the Jensten Group. It’s also the second sector-focused broker acquisition for Jensten in the last seven days, after the group’s deal with specialist motor trade broker Bellegrove. Group CEO Allistair Hardie said then that “further announcements” were to follow soon.

Surrey-based Basil Fry provides insurance to the UK’s removals, storage, and self-storage sectors, including several associated industry organisations. Managing director Greg Wildman will continue to lead the business, reporting to Jensten’s retail managing director Rob Organ. Established 50 years ago, Basil Fry now looks to grow further in the UK and Europe.

“After significant sustained growth for many years, we needed to find a powerful partner to develop our service offering both in the UK and in Europe,” said Wildman. “We are very excited about the opportunities that Jensten will provide to us.”

Focus on people and culture

Wildman cited Jensten’s focus on Basil Fry’s clients and staff as the reason for the partnership. “We had various opportunities to consider elsewhere but it was clear that our shared ethos would make this transition a success,” he continued in a statement.

“Basil Fry is the market leader in its chosen sectors and another top-quality brokerage that has chosen Jensten as its acquisition partner. I look forward to welcoming a further 41 talented colleagues to the Jensten family,” said Hardie. “Jensten’s ability to continually attract established, entrepreneurial brokers stands testimony to its culture – putting people and clients first.”

The Jensten Group is comprised of three insurance distribution businesses: Jensten Insurance Brokers, the Coversure Franchise network, and Jensten’s wholesale division, which consists of Jensten Underwriting and Jensten London Market. Since it launched in 2018, it has now grown to place more than £400 million in the market.

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This is according to information supplied to Insurance Business as part of a Freedom of Information request response.

Number of firms contacted	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June	July	Aug (as of 25/8)
Proactively (no specific evidence of non-compliance)	27	4	5	0	0	0	0	0
In response to evidence of potential non-compliance	3	4	7	7	1	2	0	1
In relation to the GIPP attestation	0	0	0	15	81	511	473	10
Total	30	8	12	22	82	513	473	11

Source: Insurance Business, FCA FOI data

GIPP rules came into force in January of this year, as the regulator sought to stamp out a practice known as ‘price walking’ or ‘dual pricing’, through which loyal consumers were quoted more at renewal than they would have been as a new business customer.

As of August 25, the regulator had contacted firms 1,151 times in total regarding compliance with the regulations, with the bulk of this relating to GIPP attestations (1,090 instances) where firms had failed to respond and the remaining 36 firms having been contacted despite no evidence of non-compliance.

Of the firms that had responded to the FCA’s queries on GIPP attestation, all that had responded by August had either said they were compliant or that the rules did not apply to them, the regulator said.

Insurers fare better than brokers on GIPP compliance

The FCA published the results of an analysis of a sample of 18 insurers and 48 brokers that had supplied GIPP attestations in December, and while it found that larger firms – said to be mainly insurers – were “generally able” to attest compliance, smaller firms had “few or no” records to show.

Some firms supplied “limited information” or a statement claiming that they had not treated renewing and new customers differently prior to rules being in place, although no evidence was supplied to support this in most cases, the regulator said.

The FCA found some areas for improvement, with four of the 48 sample brokers having failed to make clear whether a person attesting was a senior management function holder.

Just 11 of 66 firms initially supplied records that “met our expectations”, the FCA said in the December 2 update. However, following meetings with a sample 15 firms, the regulator said it was “generally able to gain sufficient assurance” that appropriate evidence and records existed.

Many firms often omitted key evidence in attestations, while in some cases internal audits were relied on as the “main if not only” source of compliance evidence, and in some cases the regulator said governance and policy documents had not been updated.

More than a third of the businesses failed to “adequately” provide evidence on governance and controls, and procedure documents, the regulator said.

“This increases the risk that firms may systematically discriminate against home and motor insurance customers resulting in harm to consumers,” the FCA said in its report.

No enforcement action had been taken against insurers or intermediaries for GIPP breaches as of August 25, 2022, according to the FCA FOI response.

Tackling the “loyalty penalty”

Citizens Advice brought attention to the price walking issue in a 2018 super complaint, after it found that loyal customers were paying a £3.6 billion penalty across the home insurance, mobile, broadband, mortgages and savings markets.

Over the past 12 months, in which GIPP rules came into force, home and motor insurance pricing has “increased at the competitive end of the market” by 4.1% and 12.8% respectively, according to Consumer Intelligence.

The changes have also led to a “proliferation” of PCW product offerings, according to Consumer Intelligence CEO Ian Hughes.

“Some of these [new PCW] offerings are brand new to market and some are mutations of previous offerings,” Hughes said. 

“The critical question for all these products is whether they are designed to deliver good outcomes for customers.”

Brand stacking, wherein a PCW user may see multiple products from the same insurer in their top search results, is one tactic that has boomed since GIPP changes.

Engineered well, brand stacking could offer more consumer choice, though done badly it could be “confusing”, with a Consumer Intelligence representative having previously said that the regulator could be keeping an eye on the practice.

Given the recency of changes and responses, “conversation and understanding is critical for all parties [including insurers, PCWs, and the FCA] if they are going to deliver the outcomes for consumers”, Hughes said.

“We welcome anything that helps to give the market better understanding and a level playing field that increases trust and confidence from consumers. That must be the right thing in the long term.”

In August, four years on from its super complaint, Citizens Advice said that one-in-seven people continued to face a loyalty penalty of £1.2 billion in total across the mortgage, broadband and mobile markets.

How well are insurance businesses, PCWs and the regulator performing on pricing practices rules? Share your thoughts below.

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The work of ShelterBox

Speaking with Insurance Business, ShelterBox CEO Sanj Srikanthan noted that the charity was formed in the year 2000 at a time when the need for emergency shelter after disaster and conflict was widely unmet.

“Only about one-in-five families would receive shelter and a roof over their head when everything had been taken from them,” he said. “This was recognised by our founders who were Rotarians as something that nobody else was really interested in. People were providing food aid, water aid and medical aid but shelter was almost one of those things where we left people to their own devices. And they felt this was wrong.”

It was driven by that conviction that the founders created ShelterBox which started out providing ‘shelter in a box’. Although the green boxes are well-recognised, Srikanthan said, ShelterBox no longer provides aid only in boxes. The charity works with disaster-affected communities and local partners to understand what people need. Support is provided in many ways and includes different combinations of emergency shelter items and training that are locally appropriate to make the biggest difference for communities after a disaster.

He noted that the charity has been going for 22 years now and unfortunately is seeing the demand for its services ever-increasing as disasters become more unpredictable and severe.

“It’s also important to recognise that [shelter] contributes to other things,” Srikanthan said. “It also reduces the likelihood of sexual violence. It provides shelter and protection for children as well as an opportunity for them to reintegrate into the school system. When you haven’t got a roof over your head, schooling is not the thing you’re thinking about.

“But most importantly, it recreates the family unit under a common location where they can start to think about how to get back to work or in some cases to start a home business from their shelter as we’ve seen in the Minawao camp in Cameroon. So, it’s about so much more than just a roof over your head.”

Building strong charity partnerships

As a long-standing advocate of the charity partnership between ShelterBox and Arch Insurance, Patrick Palmer, head of marketing, communications and CSR at Arch Insurance International has seen first-hand how the organisations working together has provided a mutual benefit. Touching on how the partnership first came about he noted that as Arch has grown significantly in recent years it has also sought to broaden and deepen its community impact.

“We’re fortunate to be able to make an impact through areas such as volunteering and providing financial support to charities,” he said. “For us, one of the critical things when working with charities is to find partners who can have the greatest positive community impact with the support we’re able to provide.

“Equally, we’ve sought out charities with whom we feel we can build genuine partnerships. There are so many wonderful causes out there that it can sometimes be quite difficult to make that selection. So, when we set about the process, we established a set number of criteria to help us find the right partnerships. ShelterBox genuinely ticked every single box in terms of aligning with our purpose, our values and our key areas of focus.”

Above and beyond that, Palmer and the Arch UK CSR Committee were blown away by ShelterBox’s commitment to building a truly integrated partnership. The passion and drive that imbues every person within that organisation are completely infectious, he said, and when the Arch team asked its people to select the charities they want to support, both ShelterBox and Arch’s other key charity partner Insurance United Against Dementia (IUAD) won the vote by a country mile.

Examining what has made the link-up between the organisations really stand out, Srikanthan highlighted that ShelterBox’s concept of partnership is to truly immerse its partners in what the charity does.

“If you want to understand the issues behind the cause you’re supporting, that’s what we offer at ShelterBox,” he said. “We really want you not just to contribute your time or your resources, but also to understand where those resources and that time are making a difference around the world.

“The multiplier effect that you have on people you’ve never met is huge. And for any organisation looking to have that impact around the world, beyond the scope of what you do in our day job – we can give you that and, I hope, give you that experience to understand why it’s important to do it.”

Being part of the shelter ‘solution’

That true partnership approach has been met with incredible enthusiasm from Arch, Palmer said, as that level of focus and engagement on where the resources end up benefitting is the real proof of concept of any charitable initiative. In addition, he said, ShelterBox actively seeks engagement regarding which areas the team would like its support to localise in. When Typhoon Rai impacted Arch’s colleagues in the Philippines, Arch was quick to allocate funds, along with the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.

Having that integrated approach to a charitable partnership is not something that he had experienced before, Palmer said, and it speaks to the collaborative nature of what ShelterBox is doing – and why more organisations should look to align themselves with this charity.

“We’re very lucky that the nature of the insurance market is itself collaborative,” he said. “Compared to other industries, we’re much more used to working together- as evidenced by IUAD which is a great example of where the insurance industry has collaborated. It’s something that we do well. I think ShelterBox is a wonderful example of where you’ve got thematic alignment with what our industry does and is also a wonderful cause.

“I would personally love to see many more of our partners and peers in the industry getting involved. So, I would 100% recommend this.”

ShelterBox provides emergency shelter and other essential items to families who have lost their homes to disasters. The charity is currently supporting people affected by conflict in Ukraine, Yemen, Syria, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Mozambique. It’s also helping people in Pakistan after monsoon flooding left large swathes of the country underwater, and people displaced by the most severe drought in East Africa for forty years. For more information about ShelterBox visit ShelterBox.org.

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What trends are sweeping the HNW insurance market?

Offering insights, he noted that, from a claims perspective, the team is seeing less incidents of fire. Given that high net worth (HNW) properties can be equipped with home cinemas, multi-media systems and under floor heating etc, he said, when these do happen, they can bear relative expense. Many HNW properties have hard wired fire alarms which include early detection devices meaning fires can be extinguished sooner. Nevertheless, significant damage can still occur.

“Specialist contractors are reporting continued trends in HNW development projects such as the installation of home leisure facilities which include basements and indoor pools,” Fairmann said. “A study mapping the 7,328 basement conversions approved by 32 boroughs and the City of London between 2008 and 2019 found the majority of these developments were built for affluent professionals rather than oligarchs, with researchers commenting they’ve become as ‘usual as loft conversions’.

“According to an analysis of planning applications by researchers at Newcastle University’s School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape, the schemes were found to contain 532 swimming pools, 814 cinemas, 1,695 gyms, 689 wine cellars, 607 games rooms, 342 steam rooms or saunas and 154 staff quarters.”

Escape of water and flood claims are on the rise, he said, which is due to the increasing number of adverse weather events. Meanwhile, alternative accommodation for HNW clients is becoming more challenging to source, particularly when there are localised incidents in wealthy areas. In addition to sourcing suitable accommodation, some landlords are reticent to offer short-term lets.

Another key trend Fairmann’s team is spotting is that HNW customer needs have evolved in line with digitalisation of the claims process. This, he said, responds to the increased demand for self-service and online communication channels.

Inflation – its impact on the HNW insurance space

It’s difficult to have a conversation in Q4 2022 about market trends without touching on the impact of inflation and Fairmann noted that building material costs and labour rates are continuing to rise due to the impact of COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, the relative weakness of the pound, and increased shipping costs. Also, he said, some materials more frequently found in HNW properties, such as hardwoods, are scarce.

“HNW clients are more likely to own a higher proportion of listed buildings,” he said. “For these properties we expect costs to be up to 50% higher given the complexities associated with reparation. Given the higher quality of materials commensurate with HNW properties, our contractors report costs of these being 20-30% higher. Labour costs have also increased by at least 20% due to many Eastern European tradesmen having returned to their home countries. This issue appears to be particularly acute in London and the Southeast.”

Although some HNW individuals will be more immune to the effects of inflation than others, he said, along with rising interest rates, its impact nevertheless remains an area of concern, especially for those who are retired. The increase in cyber-crime is also becoming more of a concern and HNW clients and their families are aware of the need for specialist risk management advice.

This is where the team at Sedgwick is really able to shine, as its services are available 24/7. This service is complemented by a dedicated third-party administration team that handle day-to-day claims processing and other administrative duties, he said, with seamless integration to Sedgwick’s private client loss adjusters and specialists.

“We provide a highly personal and unwavering commitment to customer care,” he said. “Our expert adjusters guide customers step-by-step through the claim, using all available solutions to achieve the settlement most appropriate for each individual. Sedgwick’s private clients team tailors professional services to meet individual needs — a bespoke solution for each claim we manage, supported by digital tools.”

What’s next for the HNW insurance sector?

Despite the challenges facing the market, Fairmann said he is not seeing any significant gaps in HNW policy coverage as it stands. Given the increase in entrants to the HNW market, and a drive to offer product differentiation, he said, coverage has developed to be expansive. However, HNW clients are seeking additional lifestyle advice due to the impact of rising prices covering wine, jewellery, watches and classic cars, as well as how to manage their exposure to cyber-crime.

Looking to 2023, he said that he expects that 2023 will be another challenging year for the HNW industry. With the increase in indexation and premiums, disposable incomes will be compromised, and some clients may look for alternative insurance arrangements, or to self-insure. Under-insurance is already an industry issue, and this may become more apparent.

“Whilst fraud in the HNW sector is less frequent, a 2023 uplift would not be unusual given predicted economic conditions,” he added. “As HNW clients continue to seek out insurance and investments that meet their principles environmental, social and governance (ESG) will remain at the forefront for the HNW industry. In addition, HNW insurers will see flood resilience as a priority in 2023, given the increased frequency of flooding in the UK.”

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The challenge presented by these vacancies is clear to any business looking to attract new talent but there’s strength too in entering a recessionary period armed with a low unemployment rate. For insurance businesses, in particular, the talent crunch facing firms of every size does not have to ring too many alarm bells if they are proactive in addressing the concern and flexible about the approach required to bridge this gap.

In a recent interview with Insurance Business, Freedom Services group’s Chantel Emilius shared some of the secrets behind the group’s impressive talent attraction and retention figures. At the core of its recent success is taking a human approach to developing your culture and engagement, she said, and having faith in your people. Having trust in its people is what has allowed the insurance business to roll out advanced sick leave policies, a completely flexible remote working initiative and, most recently, a four-day working week.

Of course, what works for one business may not necessarily be right for another but the underlying principle behind the work Emilius and her team rolled out is a valuable lesson to business leaders – well-placed empowerment will pay back dividends.

Fail fast, learn faster has long been an underlying tenet of innovation and it’s time that companies embraced a change management approach to the question of talent. All across the insurance chain, firms are implementing new digital-first practices and incorporating data-driven modelling to leverage new opportunities. Post-COVID, in particular, increased innovation has become a must-have even among businesses traditionally resistant to change.

Yet, for many, there’s still a certain reticence about evolving the way people work alongside the changes happening around the work they actually do. Change is happening certainly, the move to hybrid working models by so many insurance companies is alone proof of that. But the time is right for insurance businesses to move faster and take every action necessary to future-proof their talent pipelines.

Forward-thinking policies, structures and programmes will go a long way to retaining talent and, as seen from Freedom Services’ experience, have a significant part to play in talent attraction as well. But they’re only one part of the solution and the other major element is rejuvenating the overall external perspective of what a career in insurance entails.

Even from my own conversations, I know that there remains formidably little understanding of what insurance is, does and can do. And until insurance businesses do everything in their power to change that perspective, I can’t see that changing. The work of associations like Airmic and the CII has been integral in moving the dial to where it is today, but they need the support of the broader sector if they’re to continue that evolution.

Airmic’s ERM forum saw speakers from the railway, nuclear and construction sectors all coming together to discuss the critical role that insurance and risk management play in the operational success of their respective industries. The message is clear – insurance touches everything. And if insurance was to truly adopt that messaging as standard, you’d soon see it among the industries least likely to have trouble attracting great talent.

The chance to change how insurance is seen is in the hands of everyone who works in the sector. So, have genuine pride in what you do and take every opportunity presented to talk about it. By doing so, the insurance profession has the chance to lead discussions around talent retention and attraction rather than finding itself listening in to these conversations, hoping to pick up hints and tips.

There’s no time like the present to get started. Because, with over one million vacancies and with the UK employment rate standing at 75.5%, insurance firms are no longer competing with just their own market peers or the financial services sector more widely – the playing field has been blown wide open.

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