The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) has appointed leaders of the Society of Insurance Broking (SIB) and Society of Claims Professionals (SOCP).
YuTree Insurance director Laura Hancock takes over as chairwoman of the SIB with Fidu Consultancy director and Weightmans non-executive director Ashton West becoming chairman of the SOCP.
Laura Hancock succeeds Kevin Hancock, also of YuTree, while West is succeeding Sue McCall of MS Amlin.
Hancock (pictured left) said she was delighted to be taking on the position.
“Having completed a long stint on the board of the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA), this is a natural move for me which will see me able to continue championing and supporting brokers under the auspices of the CII,” she said.
“It is an honour to have been given this opportunity and I will work tirelessly to ensure that I make a difference to the work that the wider CII does, and to the individuals in the broking community that this board seeks to support.”
West’s experience includes 15 years as the chief executive of the Motor Insurer’s Bureau, just over five years as a non-executive director of the Insurance Fraud Bureau and he currently chairs the board of trustees for charity, The Road Safety Trust.
West (pictured right) said: “Having served as a board member on the Society of Claims Professionals for the last two years, I was honoured to be nominated as the new chair by my fellow board members.
“It is an exciting time to be a part of the CII’s specialist claims community board. All of the board members bring a wealth of different experience and are passionate about finding ways to add value to our members who work in the claims profession, and we look forward to sharing more on this shortly.”
Tim Groves, programme development and partnerships manager at the CII, added: “The society boards are dedicated and passionate about serving and supporting as many members in their sectors as possible.
“I know Laura and Ashton will build on the great work undertaken by Kevin and Sue, while also bringing new and fresh ideas to how we can best serve our members.”
The CII has been at the heart of board moves as it kick-started an ongoing dispute with the Personal Finance Society (PFS) last month after controversially taking over the PFS board, citing “serious and significant” governance failures, which the PFS rejects with senior representatives resigning and questioning the bodies’ relationship.
Assessment overhaul
The CII is also piloting a new form of assessment for its R06 Financial Planning Practice unit – introducing a coursework option.
The move follows its ‘Shaping the future together’ consultation which resulted in members requesting more flexibility and realistically assessed tasks to some of its assessments.
Consequently in place of the scheduled written exams, the professional body is piloting coursework assessments for the R06 Financial Planning Practice unit of the Level 4 Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning.
The format of the coursework assessments for R06 will be assignments based on client case studies.
