International Cooperative and
Mutual Insurance Federation

If I was to advise a newly qualified graduate today which profession they should enter it would be insurance regulation. Regulators around the world must be recruiting like fury as they build up their regulatory teams for the ever increasing amount of regulation that is being placed on the insurance industry.

To be perfectly frank we started this year as a disparate cooperative movement that rarely cooperated and didn’t therefore move our sector forward. But fast-forward a mere 12 months and now we find our movement more unified, more determined to cooperate and more motivated to grow.

Last week saw the culmination of the UN International Year of Cooperatives with the Cooperatives United World Festival in Manchester, UK. Over 10,000 delegates (including 9,000 from the general public) attended the Festival which was another inspirational event that brought cooperators together from over 90 countries.

True Progressivism was the title of the lead story in ‘The Economist’ this week. This excellent article was primarily about the widening gap between the rich and poor and was a call to action for governments around the world

“The oldest insurers that are still around today are all mutual.”

“Mutualisation of business is seen as being key to bringing diversity in any country.”

“Diversity is what cooperative and mutual boards excel at.”

The innovation and quality coming from our members is astonishing.

ICMIF members who fully utilise their membership clearly have the competitive edge.

Insurers are in the business of giving customers peace of mind.

The short answer is YES it really does and the numbers prove it.

We’re long term commercial strategists and we do not apologise for having a conscience.

It is now up to us in the UK to deliver on Cameron’s vision of a fairer more responsible form of popular capitalism.

The latest issue of my InSights reports “Trends in Online Business and Online Strategies” examines ICMIF members’ online strategies and asks the all-important management questions which will help our members match their strategies with customer expectations, internal capabilities and the competitive environment.

Falling returns on investments, the rising incidence of natural catastrophes, downward pressure on premiums: these are all factors which have led many organisations to manage purely for the short term and as a result lose sight of long-term organisational goals. Future-protecting your organisation whilst surviving tough current economic conditions is, it would seem, one of our industry’s greatest management challenges.

“This month’s InSights looks at the latest developments in the usage of telematics, or “smartboxes” to enhance the competitiveness of motor insurers, crossing a range of strategic objectives.”

I’ll be sharing the key conclusions from a new series of short papers, ‘ICMIF InSights’. These are topical, short papers, aimed at busy decision-makers like you.

One of the few welcome fallouts of the banking crisis is that mutuals are coming back in fashion, says Alan Goddard, Managing Director of Cornish Mutual, one of ICMIF’s UK members. Alan has very kindly agreed to share his recent blog, originally written for members of Cornish Mutual, with ICMIF members as a guest blog.

Should you need to find a cooperative or mutual reinsurer in Tokyo between the hours of 7-9pm on the last Sunday in January then you need look no further than a small Korean barbecue restaurant close to Shinjuku station. For the last six years this has been the chosen meeting place for the start of ICMIF’s annual two day reinsurance visit to Tokyo.

One of the many delights and privileges of my role as CEO of ICMIF is hearing about all the wonderful events and initiatives that come from our cooperative and mutual members around the world. The International Year of Cooperatives gave rise to many fabulous events, one of which was the first ever International Conference of Economic Solidarity in Paraguay organised by ICMIF member Aseguradora Tajy.

In my role as the project manager for the Global Mutual Market Share report and other financial market reports published by ICMIF’s Shared Intelligence department, my research revolves around analysing the financial statements and reporting accounts of over 3,000 mutual and cooperative insurers from around the world.

Why? Why? Why? When I am not being ICMIF’s Senior Vice President, Communications it is also my privilege to be mother to a ten year old Dan and a six year old Charlotte. I am therefore more than accustomed to answering questions starting with ‘Why…?’, ‘Why can’t I…?’, ‘Why do people…?’ and ‘Why won’t he…?’ You get the picture? Taking the time to answer those big questions is rewarding and it is no different in the context of an organisation.

It’s February already and the first month of 2013 will soon be a distant memory! For many of us the New Year brings with it a renewed vigour and commitment to achieve our goals and to strive to keep New Years Resolutions; maybe we resolve to be a better person, to live a healthier life style, to give up bad habits or to learn something new. I would suggest another New Years Resolution for 2013. How about “Resolving to make the most of your ICMIF membership”?

What do you think a fraternal benefit society is? We asked that question to hundreds of people and the responses we received were funny, eye-opening, and…wrong. My favorite was from a man here in Chicago who said, “I think it’s probably like a college fraternity, only with more money and less beer.”

After spending almost three weeks on the road, a number of things were circling around my mind on the flight home from Istanbul.
There was of course relief that despite some minor set backs we were able to deliver our vital messages coherently and I hope, in an engaging, memorable way.

While sitting in the airport at Buenos Aires waiting to board my flight home after the 20th ICMIF Americas Annual Conference I had plenty of time to reflect on the event. It had been three days of thought-provoking presentations and discussions among the 150 participants who had travelled from more than 15 countries around the Americas region to be there.

I was at a learning and development seminar recently when another delegate asked me during the coffee break “What learning opportunities does ICMIF offer that I cannot find anywhere else?”

This year’s meeting of the Latin American Reinsurance Group proves to be a “5 star” experience.

“Are we, as mutuals/cooperatives, leading the way in creating a fairer industry for customers?”

Business leaders should model their perspective on that of cooperatives and credit unions says Kathy Bardswick, President and CEO of The Co-operators Group Ltd, Canada.

Sustainable decision making is relevant now, more than ever