Interviews

In this virtual interview, we ask Protection Review co-director Andy Couchman to reveal a little more about himself…

1. What led you to join the insurance industry?

A friend of my father worked in insurance. He had a great job, earned a lot, was given cars to race by Ford and had a gorgeous girlfriend. As an impressionable 18 year old; I thought, that’s the career for me and became a trainee underwriter. I’ve since learned it’s not all like that…

2. Have there been times when you feared you made the wrong choice?

After a couple of years I actually switched career and became a civil servant – having found out that after two promotions I was earning less than the office cleaner did as a junior civil servant (her 9-5 job!). Luckily, after a few months I was head-hunted back into an insurance job that led me into marketing and I regained my passion for the sector. In fact, being out of insurance helped me focus on what I really wanted to do.

3. You worked in corporate life for many years. Did you enjoy it and if so which things made it particularly satisfying?

Yes I did. Making things happen was most satisfying and not being able to make them happen was the most frustrating. I was lucky enough to work with some great people, learn how to do things properly and be given responsibility for what were or became market leading products and services.

4. Was your decision to start your own business one you had been looking to take?

No, not at all. I was made redundant (I was arguing for expansion when the firm was looking to contract) so I suppose I’m a ‘reluctant entrepreneur’. I was very lucky though – I was offered a two day a week role as secretary to the Society of Fellows at the CII. That made me think much wider than just life assurance, paid the mortgage and gave me scope to develop the business too, so I’m very grateful to Dr David Bland – the then CII Director General - for giving me that opportunity. I also Peter (Le Beau) you a vote of thanks – my first writing job was as editor of Emap’s Health Insurance Monitor – the first publication to focus solely on health and protection insurance – and that came about as a result of an introduction by Peter. Thanks!

5. Was it an easy transition?

Yes and no. From day one I wanted a portfolio of interests and we (my wife Marion and I – we run the business together) took the decision to be a micro business using the ‘Hollywood’ model – partnering with others on specific projects, as happens in the film industry, rather than employing a team of people. Our early decisions have stood the test of time, but it’s a personal thing, and others have chosen alternative strategies and been successful too. It’s whatever you’re most comfortable with.

6. What do you primarily consider yourself - journalist, market commentator, consultant, product designer, publisher or all of the above equally?

I’ve always been comfortable wearing different hats, it’s part of the buzz and helps you keep sharp. The important thing is giving maximum effort to whatever role you’re doing at the time – but also avoiding areas you don’t think you’d be good at.

7. What prompted you to identify the need for the Protection Review?

Peter and I had known each other for a good few years and said that one day we’d find a project to work together on. Protection Review came about because we both felt there was a need for an independent forum that covered every aspect of the business. The book and dinner came first, but we have now expanded out into the conference, the website and consultancy. The aim has always been to produce firm deliverables to the highest standard. You have to put yourself in your clients’ or customers’ shoes - the old insurance maxim of subrogation - to deliver not just what people say they want, but what you are convinced they will want once given the opportunity. We couldn’t have done any of it without the support of our sponsor partners and countless friends across the industry though, so we owe them an enormous debt of gratitude.

8. What do you enjoy most about your job?

Seeing something go from idea to reality – whether it’s a book, article, piece of consultancy or whatever – is a real buzz, but even more important is when those things make a difference. We’re faced with a £2.3 trillion protection gap, so being able to try to do something to reduce that is a privilege – especially as our industry’s products and services make such a positive difference to real people’s real lives. We often forget that, but there are few industries that fundamentally have such a strong moral as well as practical purpose.

9. What do you believe is your biggest achievement so far?

I’ve been lucky enough to have had a few successes over the years – in corporate life I managed or helped create some very successful products and services. Since establishing my own business I’ve edited the industry’s first dedicated publication, been involved in the development of its successors, reviewed virtually every new product over the past 15 years (over 500 and still counting!), developed a new code of ethics and CPD scheme for the CII, contributed to industry-leading research (including on climate change, right back to 1994) and worked with individual clients on a range of issues. The biggest success though is Protection Review. It’s very much a team effort, and it involves the whole industry. Peter and I are just the catalysts making it happen. There have been failures too of course – ten years ago I did a lot of consultancy work on long term care, and the insurers I was working with failed to make the impact we should have done. But you learn from your mistakes and failures and try hard not to repeat them.

10. Do you believe the protection industry is set for a renaissance or a struggle over the next couple of years?

That’s a hard one. It has the potential for a renaissance, but that will require even more effort and strong leadership, not just from industry leaders but also from those outside who influence our industry - politicians, regulators and trade and professional bodies included. But look at the fundamentals – an ageing population; a huge protection gap that is not getting any smaller; generally more affluence, and a renewed public interest in the value of protection, as our market research earlier this year showed. But there are huge challenges too – regulation, solvency II, RDR, and internal issues like what to do with CI and IP for example. We need to look at the big picture, not simply rely on incremental change, even if that is based on thorough analysis. Take tele-underwriting for example. For years we had seen a gradual move towards more and more medical questions on applications, resulting in 40 plus page forms almost guaranteed to put off potential customers and IFAs alike. It was only when we began to come up with real alternatives that we realised just how much damage the previous path had resulted in. Taking the helicopter view of issues is something we don’t always believe we have time to do. But it’s often the only way to understand the real perspective of an issue – it’s one of the things you try to bring to a company as an outside consultant as well.

11. Should the RDR be copied across to protection?

There is a sort of logic to doing it but you really do have to look at the wider picture. More protection benefits not just individuals and our industry but also, on a wider level, society. We provide the safety nets that allow people to take life risks and we go way beyond what any government provides or could afford to provide. For example, IP and PMI protect those who choose to be self-employed; life cover and CI protects those who choose to have a family or take on a mortgage. We know that protection is still largely sold not bought. So advisers have a role to educate as well as to sell. It will take years to educate everyone to understand their protection needs, and we haven’t really started yet. So, in the meantime, we need the best system that will reward intermediaries for giving that one to one advice. We can’t rely on people choosing to buy advice – it just won’t happen.

12. If you could change one thing about the industry what would it be?

It would be to get every industry leader to invest in the future as well as the best do. It is too tempting to focus just on the short term and, while that is important, it’s those long-term strategies that will pay dividends in the long run. And a key element of that is better understanding customers, providers and suppliers, innovating (and not just products) and tackling the issues that will shape the future.

13. Can we finally confirm that your putative Formula 1 career (or the chance of a guest appearance on Top Gear) is at an end?

I’ve always been a petrolhead and still enjoy a bit of very amateur competition (my Caterham 7 runs Protection Review stickers when I compete at the annual Brighton Speed Trials in September for example), but I know my limits! Fortunately it’s a sport where age is less of a factor than many, at least outside the professional arena. Sir Stirling Moss is still racing at age 80 and a couple of years ago, our oldest competitor at Brighton was in his 90s, so I still have time left I hope, even if my driving is some way below theirs! I do fancy a go round Top Gear’s track though!