Closing thoughts My pride in our work After seven years as Director General of the ABI, Huw Evans is leaving to take up a new role at KPMG. Here, he reflects on his tenure as leader of the association, and how the sector has responded to uncharted challenge and change Wind the clock back to early 2015. David Cameron was preparing for a General Election and Britain was still 18 months away from voting to leave the European Union. Donald Trump was yet to stand in the upcoming US presidential election. The Covid-19 pandemic was not even a shadow on the far horizon. In that same year, Huw Evans became Director General of the ABI. Now, as he prepares to vacate his leadership role, he is philosophical about his eventful tenure. Moments of success Its been a busy seven years, thats for sure, he says. But some of my proudest moments have come when weve pulled together to overcome adversity. For example, while Brexit presented a major challenge, the assistance and advice we offered to our members based on shared experience and our own expertise really helped firms navigate the challenge. Its been a busy seven years, thats for sure... But some of my proudest moments have come when weve pulled together to overcome adversity. Huw was also instrumental in negotiating and helping set up the Flood Re scheme. The ABI and our members persuaded the government it could work, he says. Now it has helped more than 300,000 people get affordable home insurance and resulted in a big improvement in how policy-makers regard insurers when it comes to flooding. This external success was mirrored internally, with strong satisfaction and value-formoney ratings from ABIs members, and the association expanding in size under Huws leadership. Learning from experience Before Huw entered the insurance world, he enjoyed a career in politics, joining the Labour Party as a press officer just before the 1997 General Election that swept Tony Blair to power. He worked with Blair as a special adviser and with David Blunkett at the Home Office, and these often challenging times taught Huw valuable lessons. I learned how important it is to behave with integrity in times of stress. In stressful situations, its tempting to cut corners to wriggle your way through, but thats the moment to double-down on high standards I learned how important it is to behave with integrity in times of stress, he explains. In stressful situations, its tempting to cut corners to wriggle your way through, but, actually, thats the moment to double-down on high standards. Huw also learned the value of keeping body and soul together. If youre working long hours in a role that demands you to exert consistent good judgement, you have to keep healthy and your mind sharp, he says. I wasnt very good at that in politics, but Ive got better at it with the ABI. The Covid-19 pandemic These lessons were to be invaluable when Covid-19 caused huge disruption and uncertainly across the world. Our sector faced a major operational challenge, says Huw. Pension payments and insurance claims had never been processed outside the office on this scale before. When you consider around 61m worth of insurance claims, and 30m of pension payments, are being made every day, the stakes were high, but the sector rose to the challenge. Huw is also very proud of the industry for supporting the ABIs Covid-19 Support Fund, which raised more than 100m to provide a lifeline to charities and hidden victims of the pandemic. The ABI also agreed a series of industry-wide pledges to reassure customers where their insurance had been adapted to cover situations such as working from home or businesses left unoccupied for long periods, he says. Business interruption insurance On the issue of business interruption insurance claims, Huw acknowledges that the pandemic revealed some important shortcomings. Many policies were not clear enough to customers about what they would or would not cover, he says. Although this situation wasnt unique to the UK, the ambiguity and confusion was bad for the reputation of the insurance sector we needed to learn lessons. In response, weve set up a Board-level Reputation and Customers Committee to develop our commitments to driving better consumer outcomes. Weve got a good track record of developing voluntary codes, and this committee will look at what else needs to be done. Weve adapted our own targets and programmes to drive greater gender equality, and Ive taken part in several HeForShe mentoring programmes Shifting the approach In a broader sense, Huw believes the ABI is evolving in terms of how it anticipates the challenges of tomorrow, including improving diversity and inclusion. Weve definitely become more proactive for instance, by becoming the first financial services trade association to sign up to the Treasurys Women in Finance Charter in 2016. Weve successfully adapted our own targets and programmes to drive greater gender equality, and Ive taken part in several HeForShe mentoring programmes. We live in a speeded-up world where peoples expectations are now set by services like Amazon Prime. Artificial intelligence could provide the means to help us keep pace with these expectations During Huws tenure, the ABI has also developed and expanded its approach to policy and public affairs, extending its reach beyond Westminster to include the three devolved administrations, ensuring contact on a daily basis with policy-makers. Weve tried to be more outward-looking, explaining to policy-makers what we do and how we can help, says Huw. These connections become invaluable in difficult times. The digital revolution Huw points to a number of other significant changes that have affected the industry during his tenure, including auto-enrolment, the Freedom of Choice reforms, and the forthcoming general insurance pricing review and pensions dashboards launch. Many of these changes have been enabled by the digital revolution, which Huw believes is changing the way businesses are run and the way insurers interact with their customers. We live in a speeded-up world where peoples expectations are now set by services like Amazon Prime, he says. Artificial intelligence (AI) could provide the means to help us keep pace with these expectations. However, he sounds a note of caution regarding customer data. We need to tread carefully in terms of the uses of AI and the level of public permission that goes with it. No sector has a carte blanche set of permissions from the public and customers to use whatever data it can legally get its hands on. Tackling climate change Climate change has become increasingly topical over the past decade and will be central in driving developments in policy and regulation. We need to see how the government is prepared to use policy, especially in the long-term savings market, to channel investment towards achieving net zero, says Huw. The sector has the potential to contribute up to 900bn of funding over 15 years, which is about a third of what the government says it will cost the country to move to net zero by 2050. However, mobilising this level of investment is not possible under the current policy framework. The ABI has worked hard, with the support of the Board and senior figures in the membership, to establish its own climate change roadmap. This states that, by 2025, all member firms should have their own net-zero plans, and it sets out targets for 2030 and 2050. Were the first national insurance sector in the world to create a document like this, says Huw. Its designed to set an ambition for the sector to demonstrate what we can achieve if the regulatory and public policy conditions materialise. We need to see how the government is prepared to use policy to channel investment towards achieving net zero A legacy of connection Our work really matters to people on a material level. We allow [people] to live their lives largely free from worry. They can recover quickly when things go wrong and live a prosperous retirement While Huws tenure has not been short of excitement, he feels most proud to have worked in an industry that provides such important services to customers. I think what drew me to the sector in the first place was the fact that our work really matters to people on a material level, he says. We allow people to live their lives largely free from worry. They can recover quickly when things go wrong and live a prosperous retirement. Although bowing out of his leadership role at the ABI, Huw pledges to maintain strong links with colleagues and the industry at large. Its been a group effort, and Im grateful to have had such a talented team of colleagues. Ill always be invested in the fortunes of the sector, and Im confident to be handing over the reins to my excellent successor, Hannah Gurga, to whom I wish the very best of luck. Huw Evans, outgoing Director General, ABI