Macaii S1 E009: Protecting Clients and Preventing Knowledge Loss From the Insurance Marketplace with Donna Robertson

People in Insurance: Changing the Conversation

Has the Consumer Duty really changed the insurance landscape to protect customers’ best interests? Are any poor practices still slipping through the cracks? What changes can we implement as an industry to maintain a rich ecosystem of knowledge even as people retire?

In this episode of Changing the Conversation, we are thrilled to be speaking with Donna Robertson, Managing Director of Squared Insurance Brokers! She discusses the challenges of balancing personal responsibilities with your career ambitions, and how the industry needs to reformulate its approach to hybrid and remote working solutions. Furthermore, Donna is deeply interested in treating clients fairly. She elucidates her frustrations with the Consumer Duty which, she argues, has failed to institute many practical changes for customers.

Quote of the Episode

“Although there have been the technology advancements, I wouldn't say on a whole that the industry has evolved very much. I think we're still getting caught out by practices that we should have left in the dark ages. I know that the AFC are doing a huge piece on Consumer Duty. Has it actually changed anything in the landscape? I would say probably no, other than not selling GAP insurance anymore. I wouldn't say there's been other changes. The changes that I would like to see are on a more practical level.”

For Donna, beyond the more superficial shifts to our working practices and the transmission of data, generally our industry is little more efficient or accommodating to clients than it was when she began her career 25 years ago. She argues that clients continue to be subjected to unfair treatment via various unsavoury practices (notably in motor fleet and liability insurance) that need to be struck out.

Key Takeaways

A key area of concern highlighted by Donna which Consumer Duty has failed to address pertains to motor fleet insurance. She argues that it is very difficult for clients to switch their cover provider as the holding broker can retain the client’s information for a five-day period before releasing it, and thereby limit their options. This can create very challenging circumstances for business owners. For example, Donan cites an incident from within the last six months when she was approached by a client who had been put on an extension by their existing broker, and the terms of their cover had increased from £100,000 to £400,000. They had only two days to find an alternate solution, and the holding broker refused to release the confirmed claims experience to the client. Thus, the client was unable to get a hold of their own data to pursue alternate cover. Given that they had a fleet of over 100 vehicles, and the business couldn’t function without insurance, the client was forced to accept these terms, a deeply compromising position given the cost-of-living crisis. Insurance brokers should never be adding to the problems of clients, but the current state of motor fleet insurance effectively facilitates, or even encourages this.

Donna suggests that this cynical type of poor broking practice is becoming much less common, but the onus is on the FCA and other broking institutions to intervene and prevent further client mistreatment. Donna empathised deeply with this client and their powerlessness in this predicament. This is exemplary of what previous guest Sam White terms ‘right brain’ thinking. This is an empathy-led, creative approach more typically associated with women, which the industry would hugely benefit from a more active incorporation of. As a people-facing industry, everything we do is reliant on relationships rooted in trust, which Donna’s empathetic approach is more likely to honour than purely analytical, numbers-led ‘left-brain’ thinking.

Yet, due to the industry’s current flexible working infrastructure, it is incredibly difficult for women with children to balance this responsibility with their career ambitions. There are countless tales of women forced to leave their workplace as it failed to offer part time, remote, or flexible working solutions. While the pandemic led some companies to become more accommodating in this respect, there is still much work to be done. This departure of talent constitutes a significant loss of knowledge for the industry.

This is accentuated by the rapidly aging nature of the insurance workforce. As people retire, swathes of knowledge are further detracted from the industry. Donna advocates for new apprenticeship programmes to create a new foundation of insurance knowledge, but argues that the age limit for such schemes should not be capped. What if someone wants to try a new role or industry in their forties or fifties? These schemes would enable us to bring in such people and let their prior experience and expertise facilitate new ideas and alternative decision-making.

Best Moments/Key Quotes

“Just because you've got children, you still have your own career goals that you want to get. And it would blow my mind that I would speak to some women, and they’d say, ‘well, I've had to leave this workplace because they can't offer me part time or flexible working’. And what a loss! What a loss of that knowledge and talent.”

“[Our industry] is built on relationships and you build that trust with your clients. It can be a numbers game, but I do believe it's much wider than that. It's getting to know clients, and know what's going on in their world, to be able to then service them properly.”

“I think a lot of men have the stronger voice, and we [women], think that we don't have an opinion, or we don't have a good enough opinion. But women can sometimes look at it and see a different perspective, and see other things that maybe the other side, the more analytical brain, isn't seeing. So, speak out more often, your thoughts are good, and you might come up with something that nobody else has thought of.”

“If somebody wants to start a new role in their 40s or 50s, they've got transferable skills. So, let's make it easier for businesses and bring them in, especially when we know we’re going to have that loss of talent at the other end.”

Resources

Squared Insurance Brokers – https://www.squaredbrokers.com/

About the Guest

Donna Robertson is the Managing Director of Squared Insurance Brokers, which she launched in late 2019. She has 25 years of industry experience, and advocates for greater flexible working accommodations and fairer treatment for clients.

About the Host

Sarah Myerscough is the Chief Ideas Officer at Macaii, formerly Boston Tullis. She hosts/co-hosts several podcasts and is known for her knack in connecting with people. Sarah excels in bringing out the best for video, podcast, and live events, helping clients showcase the human side of their business.

Sarah is passionate about the evolving dynamics of the insurance industry and enjoys conversing with innovators, trailblazers, and long-term advocates of change.

Website: www.macaii.co.uk