Interviews

Nick Kirwan is known as the protection voice at the ABI. But, before that, he was one of the UK’s best known product marketers. So we were particularly keen to get Nick’s views on the market and the issues it faces…

1. What did you expect to do when you were at school?

Have fun. My father was a photographer and he spent his life doing what he loved. His advice was to find a job you like because you have to do it for a long time. I’ve been lucky enough to find an industry and a role I love too.

2. What took you into the life industry?

Like a lot of people I speak to, it happened more or less by accident when I was recruited as a direct sales representative. However, right from the start, I was impressed by the difference our industry’s products could make to people’s lives. Every year in the UK many older people actually die of the cold for want of enough income to be able to afford both fuel and food. And we all know that losing your home is the last thing you should be worrying about if you’re fighting a serious illness like cancer. What a difference having even a small extra pension or protection insurance policy can make to people’s lives.

3. Briefly could you tell us your career highlights?

My first roles in the industry were in sales which taught me a lot about people. I moved into a marketing role in the mid eighties and since then held senior positions with Crown (marketing director), Abbey/Scot Prov (head of protection marketing & product development), Scottish Widows (protection market director) before joining ABI.

4. Did you ever expect to occupy your present job at the ABI?

I have been involved with ABI since 1998 when I was invited to be the chair of the Critical Illness Working Party, then the Protection Committee. I also chaired the ABI committee that produced the guide to insurers on dealing with the DDA. I was therefore delighted to have the opportunity to take up my current role at ABI. It’s a real privilege to be an ambassador for an industry that does so much to help people when disaster strikes.

5. What do you see as the biggest challenges in your current role?

Perhaps the biggest challenge is that there is often very little consensus about what we should do – but if we are to do things well, it can’t always be on the basis of the lowest common denominator. We must always aspire to excellence.

6. During your time in office at the ABI what has given you the most satisfaction?

Seeing the dramatic fall in the number of declined protection claims, especially for critical illness insurance, following the code for dealing with non-disclosure discovered at the point of claim.

7. ...and the biggest sense of frustration?

I wish I had more time – there are so many opportunities to do things.

8. Do you find it difficult to achieve the right work/life balance?

Sometimes, yes. I’m very lucky though, I love the industry I work in and the job I do. It gives me a lot of personal satisfaction to be in a role where you really can make a big difference.

9. What are your major interests outside the office?

I love to travel. The perfect getaway for me is a quiet sun-soaked island somewhere in the Indian Ocean, or anywhere a bit different where you can really explore.

10. Who are your biggest heroes? (inside or outside the industry)

My greatest hero is Nelson Mandela – for believing that change was possible when very few others did, and having the courage to follow his convictions, even at the expense of his personal liberty.

11. You have traveled quite a bit in your career. Are there any lessons we can pick up from other markets?

Yes, I think there’s a lot we can learn from other markets. To give just a few examples, in the US, they don’t sell as much CI as we do, but a lot of what they do sell is through worksite marketing – we could do much more in that area, across all protection insurance products. Auto enrollment in Australia provides most employees with a basic level of essential life and TPD cover – although having it is said to stop people topping it up to the amount they really need. In India, the private sector plays an important role in the provision of protection benefits for the wider society – for example, city people taking out insurance pay a levy to provide life cover for poorer families who work on the land.

12. Do you think we will ever be able to close the protection gap?

I guess that depends how we define it. We’ll never get to the point where everyone has all the protection they need for every eventuality that could befall them – well, not in my lifetime anyway. But can we reduce the protection gap considerably? Yes, I believe we can.

13. What would be the single biggest thing we could do to make this happen?

If you’d have asked me this two or three years ago, it would have been sorting out the reputational issues around what we do – especially, the issue of declined claims due to non-disclosure. The industry still has a little more work to do on reputational issues, but this is in hand. So we now need to be more forward and outward looking. 

The biggest opportunity lies in getting the right outcome from the RDR. It is vital we do not assume that what works in one market will necessarily work in another. We need to work to ensure that those parts of the RDR which will improve outcomes for protection customers, both existing and potential, are carried accross, and equally that any elements which would not improve things for customers are either not applied or modified.

In the medium to long term, the biggest opportunity comes from working with government. The national debt means that whichever Government comes to power at the next election will need to encourage people to take more financial responsibility to build a more resilient society. The private sector needs to work out how to help the Government by taking on a much greater share of providing the nation’s security.

In the very long term, we need much better education on financial matters, starting at young ages in schools. We’ve already lost at least one generation – so we need to get this going – but it will take another generation to get back on track.

14. You have described yourself as ‘passionate about protection’. Why is this and do you think we have enough passion in our industry?

The protection insurance industry changes people’s lives by providing financial support exactly when people need it most. After the death of a family breadwinner, when serious illness strikes or when people lose their job, we are there to support our customers and help them pick up the pieces and get their life back on track. This is such an important commitment, we have a huge obligation to make sure our products really work. There are so many people in the industry who really care about what happens to our customers – so there’s no shortage of passion around.

15. What objectives have you set yourself to achieve during your time at the ABI?

I wanted to resolve the issue of non-disclosure because it eats away at the trust consumers have in our products. The code on non-disclosure has largely sorted this out from a customer perspective and this needs still to be fully bedded in from the industry’s perspective. Looking ahead, I’d like to see the industry achieve a consensus on the RDR and what it wants from working with government and building plans for better consumer education and awareness – I believe these should be our key aims.

16. If you had one wish for our industry for the future-what would it be?

We’ve come a long way in recent years in ensuring that all our policies really do what they say they will – sorting out non-disclosure from a customer perspective was a big milestone. The time has now come to get off the back foot and stop the self criticism. Getting onto the front foot means we should all be talking more about the value we add through the claims we pay, the importance of financial security and focusing on how we get these key messages over to advisers and consumers.

October 2009