UK’s Chartered Insurance Institute Posts Record Growth

The UK’s Chartered Insurance Institute, or CII group, announced that 2007 was its “best year for membership growth since 1935.” CII membership grew to just under 92,000 members last year, a 7.2 percent increase on 2006.

The bulletin noted that the growth had been augmented “following a number of successful partnership arrangements with leading general insurance providers, including Zurich; the AXA-owned brokers Stuart Alexander, Smart & Cook, Layton Blackham; and Towergate – all strategic partners with the CII.”

The organization’s growth “has also increased thanks to the rising support for professional body membership in the financial services sector, as more financial advisers and IFA firms seek to step up to the challenges and opportunities presented by the FSA’s Retail Distribution Review (RDR).”

CII President Lord Hunt commented on the successful year, indicating that he was “delighted that more individuals, as well as the companies in which they work, see the value of joining the industry’s professional body. Trust and the value of professionalism in the financial services sector are under intense scrutiny. This period of growth provides a compelling counter-argument to those who question the value of professional advice and the first-class work of the insurance industry.”

Source: CII Group – www.cii.co.uk