London market must tap young professionals to drive modernisation plans – Liiba

Broker body the London and International Insurance Brokers’ Association (Liiba) has placed young people entering the profession at the centre of its focus on the London market’s modernisation. 

In its 2023 agenda, published today (19 January 2023), Liiba said it was “emphatic” in its support for the idea that a younger generation of professionals should be considered when driving progression in the London market.

Liiba’s chief executive Christopher Croft said: “We need to ensure that discussions about change and modernisation are driven by market participants of the future – baby boomers and generation X are giving way to millennials and zoomers.”

Zoomers is a name given to Generation Z – those born between 1996 and 2010.

Millennials, meanwhile, are those born between 1981 and 1996.

Generation X refers to those born between 1965 and 1981, while the baby boomer generation were born between 1946 and 1964.

Focus group

In taking on the ideas of young professionals, Liiba said it will be creating a focus group to reflect the London market’s changing demographics.

Croft continued: “[Millennials and zoomers] are people who have no concept of a world without the internet or 24/7 connectivity.

“We need to listen to their views as we collectively build the marketplace of the future.”

In a statement, Liiba also noted that it had run a two-week course in partnership with Howden and The Prince’s Trust to support young people who did not have employment or were not in full time education to get a job in insurance.

More than half of the 16 attendees to this course now have full time jobs in the market, are doing internships or seeking industry jobs.

Meanwhile, in October last year, Liiba repeated its weeklong insurance insights course for school students run with STEM Insights – last year it was supported by Marsh.