Stuart Scullion, who has led the Association of Medical Insurers and Intermediaries (AMII) for six years, has announced his decision to stand down as the organisation’s executive chairman.
Scullion will step down at the association’s Annual General Meeting on April 22, when a new chairperson and executive committee will be voted in.
He had planned to stand down last year but agreed to remain as executive chairman for a further year to steer AMII through the Brexit process and any outcomes from the HMRC review into the fairness of Insurance Premium Tax (IPT), which has not been forthcoming due to the Covid pandemic.
He said: “I look back on my term as Chair with pride. I think there are three achievements which stand out for me. The introduction of an industry-wide Customer Authorisation Form almost overnight stamped out some of the sharp practice that a very small number of intermediaries were engaged in.
“Secondly, I think the Data Transfer Protocol enabling Insurers to exchange membership and underwriting data directly as a digital exchange in response to the Covid Pandemic has been beneficial to consumers, intermediaries and insurers as well as delivering operational efficiency and cutting costs.
“I have always been clear the industry can only thrive if the participants think as ‘we’ not ‘them and us’. To see AMII as an organisation which has both insurers and intermediary firms standing side by side, working for the common good, will hopefully be part of my legacy.
“The Association is financially stable and in good health, and the time is now right for me to hand the baton over to a new Chairperson to build on what we have achieved and write the next chapter.
“These are both challenging and exciting times for our industry. Interest in health and wellbeing, including PMI, is buoyant because of the impact of Covid 19, particularly in relation to mental health, and resulting increases in NHS waiting times.
“Digital technology and wearable devices will see the delivery of healthcare, both in the private sector and the NHS, change beyond comprehension over the coming years.
“As an Association we want to be involved in that change, playing our part to improve things for the better.”