The public, the government and our clients all need us: so why aren't we proud of ourselves?

I have been struck recently by the lacklustre faith we seem to have in ourselves as an industry.

Whatever the stresses and strains the insurance industry undergoes, now and in the future, we must never forget that we work in a highly moral business and that our customers, the United Kingdom population and Her Majesty's Government have every reason to be grateful for our existence and our dedication.

A wise old tariff manager once said to me that working in insurance was the next best thing to working for the Church of England - and over the years, I have seen consistent evidence to support that point of view.

It is not just the work we do day by day reducing risk and managing crises, its also the charitable good work we do as a matter of course.

I cannot quantify the total gifts made to charities by the UK insurance industry every year, but I would bet the figure is staggeringly high.

I would also bet it is a figure that the public might appreciate and value.

We do care about our clients; we do care about the society in which we live and work; and we do care about those less fortunate than ourselves who fall out of the bottom of the safety net. We also recognise that when society goes wrong it is inevitably we, the insurance industry that ends up picking up the tab.

It is therefore in our commercial as well as moral interest to ensure that society functions as smoothly as possible.

Perhaps it is time we stopped being on the defensive and stood up straight and proud about the industry we represent and the vital part we play in society.

Paul Dyer, Group communications director, Towergate.