20 Jan 2015
RSA has publically committed itself to becoming the world’s first truly social insurer, but what does that actually mean? What can our customers and partners expect to see from us, and how do we plan to do it?
First of all it’s not about getting the most likes or followers on Twitter and Facebook. These are things that might...
21 Oct 2014
“God’s Chauffeur” explains the importance of telematics in driver behavior education
It has been some years in the making but it would work so well for insurance companies, telematics service providers and fleet management companies on a global scale. Along with another consumer sector that desperately needs new safety goals, standards and...
8 Oct 2014
The insurance exams are just a week away, so whether you love them or hate them, they are something which have to be done.
Now, the important thing is to employ an effective exam technique, to ensure you secure that all important pass.
Here are some of my top tips to help you:
- Adopt a positive mind set - you have worked hard and have learned a...
22 Sep 2014
Do any of the following questions sound familiar to you?
- Do you work longer hours than you should?
- Do you spend time doing things for others that they could do themselves?
- Do you struggle to meet deadlines?
- Do you find yourself working the detail rather than the bigger picture?
- Do you do jobs because you enjoy them, not...
24 Jun 2014
Let’s face it generation Noughties or to put it another way ‘generation mobile’ are hard-wired to the digital age; they were born in the midst of it after all. They know no different. To them the Digital Age is just normal (get over it), it’s how they roll…
For them swiping at a screen and not getting a response is just plain...
2 Jun 2014
“You can fool some people sometimes, but you can’t fool all the people all the time”
Bob Marley, ‘Get up Stand Up’ paraphrasing Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States.
I’ve always wondered how I might get to squeeze reggae deity Bob Marley into a blog about insurance. I think I may have just pulled...
6 May 2014
It’ll come as no great shock to those that know me that my intimate knowledge of FCA rules that apply to UK based insurance brokers is fairly sketchy.
That said, over coffee and Biscotti with a good friend of mine recently who is ‘in the know’ on such matters, he mentioned that insurance brokers, as regulated businesses, are required to...
1 Apr 2014
The insurance exams are just a week away. Hopefully, if you followed some of my revision tips you found them useful and you are now feeling confident with your level of knowledge .
Now, the important thing is to employ effective exam technique to ensure that you secure that all important pass.
Here are some of my top tips which hopefully you will find...
10 Mar 2014
The CII exams are only 5 weeks away. Now is the time to start planning your revision to maximise your chance for success.
Here are my ‘5’ top tips to help you find time you didn't think you had and maximising the effectiveness of that time!
Make a plan - Identify, realistically how much time you have available. I'm sure that many...
1 Mar 2014
The Insurance Act is a defining moment for insurers not insurance brokers.
Certainly, insurance brokers will have to make changes to the way they operate but that is some way off.
The most important issue to consider is how each insurer is proposing to respond to the Act and it is illogical that the quality insurance broker should have to do too much until...
3 Feb 2014
January provides us with a great opportunity for reflecting on the previous year:
- What went well?
- What did we learn?
- What will we do differently in 2014?
A key part to this process will be our appraisal review, which is likely to include feedback. The amount and type of feedback will depend on how active you have sought this and...
20 Jan 2014
The related issues of the identification by some carriers of inadequate reserves, and consequent ratings downgrades (or the ongoing risk of these) have highlighted an old problem for many brokers; how, if they use as their base case a minimum rating level of ‘A-‘ (as many do) for their level of automatically accepting carrier security, should they react to...
15 Jan 2014
I recently read an article that claimed 40% of Twitter accounts are dormant and inactive. Being a curious type I thought how this might apply to UK based insurance brokers and their use of Twitter.
My quick-fire desktop assessment revealed that there are a considerable number of insurance broker Twitter accounts that are not being updated, seemingly...
3 Dec 2013
I remember sitting next to the head of a major broking house not that long ago and we were discussing how surprising it was that the Gulf of Mexico hadn’t experienced a major hurricane since 2008, which then led onto a discussion of the frequency of major claims.
The line that really stood out for me was: “there will always be unexpected claims...
25 Nov 2013
The FCA’s thematic review of Price Comparison Websites (PCWs) is surely a welcome announcement. In the blurb on the FCA website, they say:
“Price comparison websites (PCWs) are a valuable tool for shopping around, but consumers may not be getting the best deal if they focus solely on price instead of the level of insurance cover.”
As a non...
18 Nov 2013
Tackling fraud remains a key strategic priority for the insurance industry. Customers understandably don’t want to pay for fraud through higher premiums. Which is why the MyLicence project is so important – it should make a real difference to motor insurance customers. So we hope that the industry will really get behind this initiative.
From summer...
11 Nov 2013
The world of IT seems to have come out of an obsession with miniaturisation and into an enthusiasm for all things big and beautiful.
Now that technology has come to a point where pocket-friendly smartphones have a functionality way above and beyond the supersize supercomputers of yesteryear, those involved in IT are thinking big about how they can put that...
5 Nov 2013
At this time of the year our thoughts turn to our year end appraisals. An appraisal meeting is a great opportunity to have an in depth discussion, with your manager, about your job and your performance.
Today I am sharing with you some hints and techniques as to how to maximise the benefits of the appraisal meeting. As with so many things in life, you are...
28 Oct 2013
If you work in UK general insurance, you would have had to be living in Siberian with no contact with the outside world not to pick up on the fact that the Financial Conduct Authority mean business. A quick look at headlines since its formation shows ‘they ain’t messing’. Rhetoric from Martin Wheatley like ‘Shoot first, ask questions...
23 Sep 2013
Mid-September saw the great and good of the international reinsurance market converge on the Cote D’Azur for the annual Monte Carlo Reinsurance Rendez Vous, the greatest networking event of the year and one where the champagne industry receives a significant boost to its yearly turnover.
Yours truly was there, and I thought it might be interesting to reflect on...
