CII to create broker society

According to the institute the development of a new broker membership programme in 2017 will speak in the language of the profession.

A manifesto pledge from the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) could see the development of a new broker membership programme in the first quarter of 2017.

Keith Richards, chief executive of the Personal Finance Society, which is part of the CII, revealed: "For brokers in particular, they are to see the development of a new broker membership programme, which will become far more relevant to brokers than just simply just providing qualifications.

"This may include creating a new society for professional insurance brokers.

"At the moment we are just engaging a number of member brokers to help us come up with the right solution.

"We've identified that there is a need within the sector to make sure that we become more relevant to different sub-sectors." "Members support the proposition to insurance brokers," he added.

Same language This means, he said, being able to speak in a language that might be used in one part of the market. For instance words like director and insurer, which might be used in a completely different context in another profession.

"We need to do a lot more to engage and be relevant to the broker market. One of the potential mechanisms to do that is create its own society," he revealed.

"We will probably make some view into implementing this during the second quarter of next year."

Richards, who has been tasked with increasing engagement with the CII, told Insurance Age after the release of the institute's manifesto in November that "we want [the body] to become more relevant to different sub-sectors".

The CII's manifesto promise outlined an "internal change programme", which it believes will help it become more "relevant, modern and diverse".

Engage Richards made it clear that the policy document was the "start of our own revolutionary journey to engage our members in a more meaningful way", and also said that the institute wanted to equally engage other sectors.

"The next phase of the manifesto is making a clear statement intent," the executive said.

"That has now resulted in 14 different work streams that we are just about to start.

"So the key performance indicators will be part of that... and various changes will start to come out from early next year."

The outcomes of the manifesto followed consultation with members and a strategic review supported by PwC.

Richards added that after the review the CII recognised the institute needed to do a lot more to engage and be relevant to the brokers.