The three most important regulatory issues for the London company market are supervision by the Financial Conduct Authority(FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority(PRA), reform of UK insurance contract law and international trade sanctions. That ranking was revealed in the results of a survey conducted by the International Underwriting Association(IUA) among its member companies.
An online questionnaire was conducted by the association in order to obtain feedback on its services and assess the relevance of its strategic objectives. Responses were received from around 140 professionals working across the IUA’s 42 member companies in London.
Representing member interests to government, regulators and the wider marketplace was clearly ranked as the most important of all the association’s activities. Satisfaction with the IUA’s services generally was found to be high with nearly three quarters of survey respondents stating that they were "satisfied or "very satisfied".
Other public policy issues identified as important in the questionnaire were Solvency II and financial crime. Meanwhile on the subject of improving business processing in the London market, projects surrounding electronic placement and electronic claims were rated as particularly significant.
“The IUA previously conducted a member survey back in 2008, so a new questionnaire was overdue,” commented Dave Matcham, cief eecutive of the IUA. “The results have proved very interesting.
I am pleased that our services are well regarded by individuals across the company market and that the association is seen as valuable, both in assisting staff to meet their own day-to-day responsibilities and also fulfilling wider corporate objectives.
This survey has enabled us to evaluate the success of individual research projects and provided suggestions for possible new areas of work, for example the handling of global programme business by the London company market.”
Most respondents to the survey were from an underwriting background, but there was also a significant selection of claims professionals, compliance staff and legal counsel.
An additional question asked individuals to record their favoured communication methods when receiving IUA information. Email is still, overwhelmingly, the communication channel of choice, with the association’s website and programme of market briefing events also popular. Social media, however, appears yet to make its mark as a business communication tool in the London Market.
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