Who are the public going to trust?

Consumer confidence is at an all time low. We are used to hearing this in regards to financial services but over the last few years public trust in many of our institutions has been sorely tested.

Trust in politicians has rarely been lower – the expenses scandal was not the starting point of this deterioration in trust but the final proof to the public that they who are supposed to represent us, appear to be looking out for number one.

There is little trust in the press either. The very institution that is supposed to question, query and challenge our political leaders was in fact in bed with those very same people.

And as part of that scandal, it was discovered that the police were only too happy to be corrupted by the press.

The public can’t even trust what they are eating anymore and the horsemeat scandal showed most clearly that perception in our world today is very different from the reality. The public are now very aware that what they see certainly isn’t what they get.

In financial services, the main source of deterioration in trust is concerned with the banking sector but insurance has also been dragged along with it. There are many who will claim this is unfair but we should not be too precious in insurance – let’s face it, we haven’t exactly covered ourselves in glory with the PPI miss-selling scandal, the way businesses throughout the supply chain are remunerated (often opaquely) and the reputation for trying to wriggle out of paying claims has not materialised out of thin air.

In isolation, these issues would not be enough to completely undermine the public’s trust in our sector but when you take everything that has happened in wider society over the last few years into account, public trust in just about everything has been ground down.

We need to understand that they are approaching us as insurance businesses with the understanding that we will, in one form or another, if we can get away with it, rip them off. Unfortunately, this is our starting point now and we have a lot of work both individually and collectively to correct this.

The image we create for ourselves as businesses and as a sector are a vitally important part of this process but there is no point talking a good game if it cannot be backed up in practice. In fact, creating a false impression of your company can be even more damaging in the long run if you cannot deliver what you have promised.

Initiatives such as the Aldermanbury Declaration and Chartered status are great starting points but if this industry is ever going to win the trust of the public again, it needs to show at every level that not only will it strive to give customers the best experience with the right products and services but will root out and name and shame those whose behaviour will ultimately bring the name of insurance into disrepute.

We need to stop thinking only about the balance sheet. A healthy business is not simply one that turns a profit. It is one that is able to make a profit by giving customers what they want and by behaving in an open and transparent manner.

I doubt there is anyone working in insurance that would want to create an industry that behaves in the way banking did. Its customers were simply vessels for more profit. I’d hate to think that insurance had also fallen into this trap but I see enough people and enough initiatives to convince me that people really do matter to our CEOs.

There is an opportunity here to take stock of our sector and make a proper analysis of what it should mean to customers – security, trust and a knowledge that we will be there when the policy holder needs support. The crucial part is that they can trust us to deliver what we have promised without reverting to page 34, sub section 2, clause 8b for the exclusion.

This needs to be led not only by the relevant trade bodies but those individuals who enjoy a high profile in the market and whose opinions are listened to carefully by their peers. But most importantly of all, each and every one of us need to look at the way we practice business and ask ourselves whether it is morally sound.

Do we want to work in a sector that is made up of disparate lifestyle businesses each with their own short-term, selfish agenda or do we want to part of a sector the public can trust. There are so few areas left in which the public can place their trust but they are desperate to find something, somewhere that will fundamentally do what it says it will. Can we not make insurance that ‘thing’?