The Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance & Finance (ANZIIF) and the Life Insurance Professional Standards Working Group (LIPSWG) have inked a memorandum of understanding to work together to lift professional standards across the life industry.
The collaborative project, designed in consultation with the Australasian Life Underwriting and Claims Association (ALUCA), the retail life industry, reinsurers, regulatory authorities, and associations seeks to establish a professional standards framework, undertake a demographic survey, and develop an approach to assessing current knowledge defined within the agreed framework.
“The establishment of Life Industry Professional Standards will ensure that life insurance professionals have a high level of well-rounded knowledge, with a focus on good customer outcomes which we believe will increase consumer confidence,” said Damien Mu, AIA CEO.
LIPSWG, comprised of AIA Australia, AMP Life, BT Life Insurance, ClearView, MLC Life Insurance, TAL Life Limited, and Zurich, believe the program will improve the professionalism of the life insurance industry, build and improve community confidence in life insurance, create a significantly better experience for customers, as well as create cultural change and driving strategy to attract and retain career employees.
“Becoming more trustworthy requires us to demonstrate competence,” said Megan Beer, AMP Life CEO and ANZIIF board president. “Our commitment to lifting professionalism in our industry starts with key roles that deliver value to our customers. Defining what it means to be an insurance professional is fundamental to the future of our industry and working collaboratively is the way we will achieve meaningful change.”
“Over the last two years, we have established a framework to drive this major collaboration in the life industry around professional standards,” said Prue Willsford, ANZIIF CEO. “I’m proud to collaborate with the seven companies who represent 95% of the gross written premium in the life industry in this significant project. ANZIIF will be conducting two major studies. A demographic survey across the entire industry to understand what level of background and skills people bring to the industry. The second will be to develop a knowledge-based assessment within the agreed framework. We will lead the collaborative project to establish a Professional Standards Framework which will determine the different job families, and the competencies required to fulfil job roles at every level of experience. The significant undertaking will assist life CEO#s and leaders to create a comprehensive roadmap to understand the investment required to build professional skills within their business.”
