Seminar for Insurance Intermediaries

The Guernsey Financial Services Commission has recently held its fourth annual seminar for insurance intermediaries. This year’s event was designed to assist local intermediaries who advise the retail public and local businesses on general insurance. The seminar addressed the issue of "under insurance and other current themes in the insurance broking profession" and was attended by some 50 industry representatives.

Hosting the event was Rosemary Stevens, Deputy Director and Head of its Conduct Unit. She was pleased to welcome returning guest speakers, Robin Wood, founder of the UK-based compliance consultancy RWA Group and Roger Franklin, partner and Head of Insurance Litigation at London-based law firm Edwin Coe LLP. The event covered key topical insurance themes including the risks of under insurance, use of unrated insurers, identifying weaker insurers and revisited the impact of the UK’s Insurance Act 2015 - the topic of last year’s seminar. The day also included a thought-provoking session on vulnerable customers and how businesses could adapt to assist them. The audience gained from the speakers’ recent experience in leading masterclasses across the UK, in joint collaboration with the Financial Conduct Authority, where similar topics were on the agenda.

Whilst the event was largely focussed on general insurance, attendance was open to other licensed firms in the local insurance sector. Participants engaged in discussions with the speakers and took away points for consideration in relation to their own firms and clients.

Feedback from attendees confirmed that the dynamic presentation was well received.

Speaking after the event, Rosemary Stevens commented: "With the Conduct Unit having now arranged and hosted four annual events for the insurance intermediary sector, it is only right that we should periodically reflect on their effectiveness. From the feedback we have received on this and other workshops and seminars we have held for this sector, it appears that we are on the right track. As always, we would welcome further input from the sector to help us ensure that these seminars and workshops deliver content that is helpful to industry and will consequently benefit the intermediary firms as well as their customers."