January 1, 2016. Prime Minister David Cameron was beginning preparations for a referendum he had, perhaps unwisely, promised. While there was a degree of sound and fury around the possible outcome, it was widely expected that he would prevail comfortably in a similar way to his Scottish independence referendum two years previously. In the USA, while polls suggested there was the possibility that failed property mogul turned reality TV star Donald Trump might win the Republican nomination for President, it was widely expected that a safer, mainstream, candidate such as Marco Rubio would emerge. In the European Union, the finishing touches were being put on the new Insurance Distribution Directive which, it was widely expected, would be the foundation of regulation for UK insurance brokers for the next two decades. And at 78 Leadenhall Street, a new, fresh faced chief executive of London and International Insurance Brokers’ Association walked through the front door.
Of course, this last bit isn’t precisely true. January 1 is a Bank Holiday and I am not an idiot. But it is the case that I have now passed the tenth anniversary in what I still think of as my “new job”. And, as the preamble above goes to show, it has been a period of some commotion. Lesson one: don’t trust wide expectations. We are on our fifth Prime Minister since Cameron chose to resign later that year. Which is only one fewer than LIIBA Chairs I have worked for – and they have a two year term limit. The second coming of President Trump is probably slightly more disruptive than the first. It is five years since EU law stopped applying to UK brokers and we hope this might be the year when FCA takes advantage of that. We have had nigh on two years of house arrest triggered by a global pandemic; war in Europe; populist governments emerging all around the world. In 2016 “Artificial Intelligence” was what Stephen Fry brought to our TV screens. Now it is either the saviour or the end of civilisation as we know it. Back then, James Livett’s shirts were legends only in his own wardrobe. Now I have made him a star.
So, I suppose, now might be the time for a little reflection. The overwhelming emotion I get when thinking back on the past decade is one of affection. I work with some brilliant but equally lovely people both in our tight knit executive team; on our board and in the wider membership. And the expertise that they bring to delivering the right risk management solutions for their clients is extraordinary and often surprising. I will never forget, for instance, the day when one of those chairs, Alastair Swift, revealed his disturbingly detailed knowledge of how to build a fertilizer bomb. But, when you have had a fertilizer warehouse for a client, it is quite important that you know how to prevent it blowing up. I have lobbied government with colleagues who have repurposed an offshore oil rig into a sustainable energy source; with the person who makes Glastonbury possible each year; and the key cog in the wheel that keeps Real Housewives of Cheshire on our screens. Ours is not just the glamorous end of the insurance industry, in fact, I can think of few industries more glamorous than ours.
The work has, more often than not, been fascinating. I refrain from using the word “challenging” because, in general, I think work is about as hard as “o” levels. But we have had some problems to solve. Often for individual firms, but sometimes at a macro level. Probably the most time consuming of these has been the issues generated by the differing interpretation of where activity takes place between UK regulators and their EU cousins. And this is where I am going to lay claim, with reasonable justification I think, to have invented the “reverse branch model”. It remains the method, despite attempts to undermine it, by which EU clients can still access that expertise and entrepreneurial capacity the global insurance industry provides. Without it, EU corporations would genuinely struggle to find the insurance coverage they need to operate. So it is quite important. But it is cumbersome, ugly and expensive. If, with improved goodwill on both sides, we can find a better way to achieve the same aim, I will gladly also be the person who ended the “reverse branch model”. It is discussions around this possibility that will be a key part of the first year of my second decade.
This prompts me to mention the extraordinary privilege I have to be part of a fabulous international network of peers. We would not be anywhere near the functioning place we are with EU were it not for the support and leadership of our European Federation, BIPAR. Numerous queries and issues about overseas regulation have been resolved by my ability to contact colleagues on the Executive Committee of World Federation of Insurance Intermediaries. The second “I” in LIIBA’s name is there for a reason. BIPAR and WFII make it possible to live up to that.
Another relationship that has developed over the time I have been in this job is that with UK government. In 2016, government had barely heard of London market. But, bolstered by the first London Matters report that I co-authored before I got here, that has changed. Government has now heard of commercial insurance and sort of come to understand that it is quite important. This is significant progress. Now we need to get it to understand why it is important, how it works and what government can do to help. We published another report in October – Innovation Imperative: why brokers matter more than ever – which will help drive this education.
No reflection on a period of London market history can be complete without some talk of modernisation. We beat ourselves up quite a lot about the market’s ability to change. But look at it this way. One of my last tasks in my old job running London Market Group was to incorporate a fledgling little company called Insurance Platform Limited (which would have triggered years of entertaining franchise cricket related gags). Then Companies House sent the form back and pointed out that you cannot use the word “insurance” in a company name without prior FCA approval. So I resubmitted an application on behalf of Placing Platform Limited. My early years in the job were sizeably taken up with finding ways to scrabble together the money to keep the company afloat and in bullying our members to use its services. Now, 10 years on, PPL is the service where over 80% of the risks written in the market are bound. And we have a competitive market for electronic trading solutions. What is more, some of the ideas that John Mason and his team have around leveraging the collective data PPL holds are pretty exciting. That is a really special achievement in a relatively short space of time. Well done all of us.
So, a decade down and God (and the faith of our membership) willing, a few more to go. I always find myself drawn to finish this sort of piece with the words Ronald Reagan used to conclude his final address to the American people as their president. Mainly because it conveys satisfaction but combines it with a realistic appreciation of the levels you can strive for in any job like this. All in all, not bad. Not bad at all.
