Blog: Reimagining the future

As part of Broker Week, which is being run on sister site Insurance Hound with Applied Systems, Insurance Age took a look to the future for insurance as we move through the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Predicting how things will look after the pandemic is almost as difficult as predicting how events will unfold during the pandemic. So much has changed in such a short time, we’ve come to question our ability to comprehend the present, let alone our ability to see the future.

Seamus Heaney tells a story of a sailor in the crow’s nest of a ship, who climbs down the rigging through thick fog, only to find that the ship itself has disappeared.

The experiences of the last few months have been equally unsettling. The things that our lives were founded on economically, socially and politically seem to have evaporated.

However, Heaney’s story was not meant to disturb, but to inspire. It shows that there is nothing so solid that it can’t be reimagined, and that our imagination is often more powerful than any conventions we have inherited from the past.

None of us knows what will happen after the coronavirus pandemic, but we do know that there will be unparalleled scope and freedom to reimagine what we do.

Business interruption
Take, for example, the situation with business interruption insurance. There is considerable uncertainty over the extent to which some policies should pay out, with many issues due to be decided by the courts. Whatever the result, there will be a reputational cost for the insurance profession.

But that doesn’t mean that we can’t start to lay the foundations for restoring trust now.

Key players in the sector are putting together plans for partnership between insurers and government to make sure that the responsibility of mitigating the financial consequences of the pandemic is clearly shared between the public and private sector, in a way that allows insurers to develop new forms of cover for businesses in future.

But we know that however much work is done, our clients will always have insurable and uninsurable risks. To address this reality, brokers are already developing a new way of advising clients that is focussed on mitigating all risks, and not simply about recommending a product that covers some of those risks.

Different culture
One very simple example of this was given to us by a leading broker we spoke to when we were doing work on improving culture in the profession for the FCA. She talked about how in annual review meetings with clients, they had always put renewal of cover at the top of the agenda, and uninsured risks at the bottom of the agenda. They have now switched this around, talking about uninsured risks first, and how clients plan to manage these risks, and renewal of cover at the end. This means clients have much fuller understanding of the risks they face, and the part that insurance plays in managing those risks.

One of the commitments that came from our Insuring Women’s Futures initiative was the creation of a Market Taskforce, where 20 of our top brands have signed up to understanding all about the life circumstances of customers. This very important pledge is all about changing the way our profession engages with customers.

On an individual level, within our businesses many of our colleagues are struggling with the shocking images of violence that we have witnessed in the United States, which have also reminded us of unresolved problems closer to home.

But these disturbing events have also given us the space to talk to colleagues and ask them questions. I’ve been inspired by the simple and courageous response of my fellow professional, Rose St Louis, in a post in LinkedIn: “For many, talking about race and racism is an uncomfortable conversation, however, this is a conversation I have had before and am going to further lean into, by sharing my experiences and offer education to those who are open to receiving it. My offer:

• “To my black friends and colleagues; if, like me, you have been struggling to process what recent events mean to you or if you simply want a space to talk, let’s find some time.
• “To my non-black friends and colleagues; if you would like to better understand the challenges of living and working as a black person and ask questions without fear of being judged for saying the wrong thing or using the wrong language, I can help you with that.”

In the wake of the pandemic, there will be hard times, but I am confident that because of the people we have in our profession, while we won’t ever go back to normal, we will eventually go forward to a better normal.

Sian Fisher is CEO of the Chartered Insurance Institute.

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