History

Roger Hall, the last Chairman of the Guernsey Committee of the Insurance Institute of Southampton and key driver of the formation of IIG, provides his recollections of the founding of our Institute.

It should be remembered that up until 1984 Guernsey was a “Local Committee of the Insurance Institute of Southampton”. That status was originally formally established in 1959.

During the 1960’s & ‘70’s a relatively small number of people came to the Island, mainly from the UK, to work in the local branch offices of the major UK insurers of that time. Such companies included Commercial Union, Eagle Star, General Accident, Guardian Royal Exchange, National Vulcan, Norwich Union, Prudential, Sun Alliance and Royal (they were two separate companies then). Almost all of these people were members of the CII from their previous employment in the UK. Some, but by no means all, held CII qualifications. In those days the only Insurance qualifications were ACII and FCII. In addition there were a few industrial life companies with local offices e.g. Pearl and Liverpool Victoria. It should be noted that none of the mainstream UK Lloyds brokers were directly represented at that time, although there were obviously a number of locally owned brokers and agents.

When I arrived in 1973 (with the Sun Alliance) I learned about CII activities from other local insurance managers and the main event then was the annual CII dinner. Monthly lecture lunches were comparatively rare. At that stage there were probably no more than 6 people with CII qualifications.

Over the next decade the captive management business began to expand and the majority of people brought over to man these companies were CII qualified, so by 1983 there were probably about 20 with CII diplomas.

As there was a need to encourage locally born/resident employees to obtain CII qualifications it was realised that there was a greater need for a more substantial CII presence, both from general insurance educational and professional examination perspectives. A few of us within the industry felt that the best and probably the only, way forward was to establish our own Institute.

We made the appropriate enquiries of the CII in London. Their initial response was that we did not have a big enough potential membership. We had then about 60 members of which 20 had CII qualifications. The CII reckoned that it was necessary to have at least 250 potential members for a viable Institute to succeed.

There was clearly no possibility of attaining 250 members at that time and we believed that the number was probably relevant to a mainland situation but was inappropriate for an offshore island. We made enquiries and learned that neither Jersey nor Isle of Man had anything like 250 but had been established as independent institutes for some time.

We pointed these facts out to the CII in London and added that, with the growth potential of the booming captive sector, our membership could reasonably be expected to grow to 150 or so within a relatively short period. After a bit more huffing and puffing on their part, they eventually conceded and said that providing we had the official sponsorship of our parent Institute (Southampton), they would grant Guernsey full independent Institute status.

Southampton were very supportive and so, in 1984, the Insurance Institute of Guernsey was established.

Past Chairmen of the Guernsey Local Committee

Past Presidents of the Insurance Institute of Guernsey