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Friday, 21 November 2014 01:38 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The International Insurance Congress is a prestigious annual event organised by the Sri Lanka Insurance Institute (SLII) and is a much-anticipated event in the Sri Lankan insurance calendar. The ceremonial inauguration of the conference took place on Wednesday whilst the technical sessions were held yesterday at the Cinnamon Grand Colombo.
The theme of this year’s congress was ‘Sri Lanka 2020: An Insurance Services Hub towards Achieving Excellence’.
The Chief Guest at the inauguration was Tamsin Mills, Director of Accreditation Services of the Charted Insurance Institute of the United Kingdom, who is an expert in CPD and professional education standards, insurance and financial services training standards, accreditation, competency framework development and career development programs.
In her speech, Mills said: “Trust is an important feature of insurance. All over the world, trust in the London insurance market is high. London Insurance market payout, should they have a claim. The reason I say so is the MH370. Two weeks after the flight disappeared, we paid out 67 million pounds. This trust, the underpinning credibility of the insurance markets, creates competence and this is why professionalism is so important in insurance service hubs.”
She also shared some key insights into professionalism: “In our experience, those companies that showed higher adherence to professionalism showed higher standards in the products and services provided for customers... In the UK currently there is no education qualification requirement for general insurance. However, in 2010 the main UK insurance market players agreed to make special standards in insurance. These companies signed up for having minimum qualifications for insurance, standards of behaviour, state of ethical conduct and customer service and management teams qualified to professional levels.”
“The essential element for professionalism is having the highest level of insurance qualification and commitment to continuous learning and improvements. To support these, insurance qualifications need to be fit for the purpose. By this, I mean relevant, up to date and competing. Qualifications need to develop and demonstrate different capability levels. Becoming an insurance professional is not a quick fix. It requires investing in insurance education. The scholarship programme at the Singapore Quality Assurance is an example of how insurance education is being used in Singapore in its quest to become a financial hub,” Mills pointed out.
“If you continue to invest in professionalism, the result will be trust in businesses, regulators, government and customers,” she added.
Insurance Ombudsman Dr. Wickrama Weerasooriya in his speech said recently on the request of the Insurance Institute, he worked on and authored a text named ‘Insurance – General Principles Law and Regulatory’.
As the title says, this book covers the regulatory development of the industry and general principles of insurance but notably it also outlines all reported Sri Lankan judiciary cases on insurance. The SLII are the publishers of this book and it’s sold royalty free. Thus far, 1,000 copies are said to be out on sale.
He briefly described the contents of the book and also extended his gratitude to those who have been a tremendous support to him in the endeavour of publishing this book.
“I’m saying this as an outsider, impartial view. I’ve told this to the IMF, World Bank and the nation’s development banks. We are a transparent industry, clean industry and a very good industry. The reason for that are the people in this audience,” he said, as he appreciated this large gathering of top professionals in the insurance industry.
Earlier on SLII President Sanjiv Keerthirathne in his welcome speech shared reasons why the specific theme for 2014 conference was chosen. “With the end of war and dawn of peace in May 2009, Sri Lanka stepped to a new era towards prosperity. Horizons and industries expanded enabling Sri Lanka to achieve a robust growth. Moreover, the positive economic indicators of Sri Lanka in the past five years demonstrate positive signals that the momentum will continue beyond 2020. If you look at the GDP, it is projected the GDP will achieve 7.8 this year, unemployment will go down to 4% and inflation will go down to 5%,” he said.
Yesterday the Congress dealt with five important topics for discussion with key insights from eminent local and international speakers on what and how Sri Lanka can promote the country as a global insurance service hub.
