Learning to stay ahead

“We’re in a world where the ‘world of products’ is going to get even bigger,” predicts Norma Nielson, chair of insurance at the University of Calgary.

A major issue arising from the “blurring of traditional product lines” and the multi-skills today required of financial service intermediaries, is how the regulators will react to the selling of products, she says.

This changing financial service landscape presents significant challenges to professional industry bodies, particularly on the professional educational front. Notably, the expansion of the banks into the long-term savings market has resulted in several new professional qualifications coming to the market.

The Insurance Institute, and affiliated bodies involved in professional development of the insurance industry, will have to take cognizance of these developments in terms of creating their future strategies. As such, the bodies serving the p&c sector may have to consider collaborating with other financial service organizations if professionalism and cost-effective delivery of quality education is to prevail, Nielson suggests. “The p&c business is facing an era of commoditization which, from an educational stand, means the Institute needs to take a proactive view to what the market is doing. If you just leave it to the market, then cheap will win, if you want to keep it [the industry] a profession, then now is the time to react.”