Prue Willsford, CEO of ANZIIF, is excited about the feedback ANZIIF has received this year since launching its new Skills Units.
“We’ve worked with one of the big global insurers to collaborate and co-design an underwriting academy and, as part of that project, they did a global review of what is available in global insurance education,” Willsford said.
“They came back to us and said that what we’re doing with our Skills Units is head and shoulders above anything else that’s available globally.”
Willsford outlined the reinvention of ANZIIF over the past three years, and what it means for the organisation in 2017.
“What we’re finding … is that there are lots of people who have an idea of who we were, but don’t yet know who we’ve become,” she said.
“So, our real focus next year is on engaging the industry so that they really understand how we can add value to them and ensuring that they understand how we can partner with them to assist in attracting, developing and retaining their people, growing the insurance community.”
Willsford adds that ANZIIF’s objectives for 2017 include continuing to work closely with the industry on “tailored learning pathways” and continuing to build out its Skills Units so that there’s a “real breadth and depth of relevant education for the industry”.
However, she stressed the critical importance of quality broker education for sustainable business growth.
“[Brokers] have really got to demonstrate that they add value both to the client and the underwriter,” she said. “To do that, they’ve got to be really focusing on quality, risk-based advice and they’ve actually got to have the skills that will enable them to be confident, to be productive and to be effective.
“We don’t just want growth. We want quality growth - and the broker’s role in that is really critical in terms of assessing and managing risk and writing good risk.”
