Improving customer confidence in the insurance industry, as well as that of regulators and politicians, must be the key issue for both life and general insurers in 2004, said CII director general Sandy Scott.
Speaking at the CII's London roadshow, Scott said: “An effective insurance market must be built on confidence. Customers, be they individuals in the retail market or institutions in the wholesale market, must trust the firms who collect their premiums or broke their risks.
“In particular, retail and wholesale customers must be confident that the advice they receive will be driven by their need and not commission payments; confident that they will receive good value for money; confident that claims will be settled quickly; confident that they will be treated fairly and that risk carriers will be well run and well capitalised.
“Everything the CII seeks to do must have a part to play in improving customer, regulatory and political confidence.”
Scott said he believed several CII initiatives were having a positive effect on the industry's reputation. He highlighted the CII's joint initiative with the Citizen's Advice Bureau, the launch of its career development tool Pathways to Professionalism, and the creation of new study modules.
He said the answers to the problem of raising confidence in the insurance industry did not lie with the industry alone, but that individuals also had a part to play.
“Many of the answers lie in your hands,” said Scott. “The performance of our industry, and indeed the way that we relate to individual members of the public, is something you can affect.”
