Growing in confidence – the changes former executive director David Gamble has seen since he joined Airmic in 1998

The nine years when David Gamble was in charge witnessed a growth in self-confidence at Airmic and a transformation in the way it communicates with members.

One of the things that struck David Gamble when he became executive director in 1998, having held senior positions outside insurance, was that people were lacking confidence.

“Insurance departments were being relentlessly down-sized, the Lloyd’s debacle was in full swing, insurers were not at all gung-ho and mergers were undermining people’s feelings of security,” he said.

He arrived just before the internet developed into a widely used communication tool. The next few years were to see the modern association and the internet both come of age. In 2007, when he left the post, the insurance market had regained most of its self-assurance, electronic communication was the norm and the association had flexed its muscles on a number of important issues.

“The main difference in the time I was executive director was the fact that we were able to communicate with our members so much more effectively. It utterly changed the way we were able to add value, and the whole way the association was run,” he says.

His nine years at the helm included some notable moments, including the Airmic lecture given by the head of the FSA Howard Davis. His talk warned prophetically of a potential financial crisis caused by the toxic products swirling around the market.

On several occasions the association wielded influence on a wider stage. In 2001, when insurers threatened to pull out of terrorism cover on airlines, Airmic hosted discussions aimed at finding a solution to a problem that threatened to ground the world’s airlines. Later that week, the then Chancellor Gordon Brown announced that the Treasury would act as a reinsurer of last resort. Airmic was subsequently involved in discussions that resulted in Pool Re extending its cover to Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear perils.

No one could have predicted the row that erupted over the Intermediation Directive in 2004. Alone among major EU countries, the UK authorities interpreted this measure in a way that meant corporate insurance buyers faced the prospect of being formally regulated as if they were brokers. Some member companies said they were willing to move their insurance function out of the UK to get around this requirement. The FSA only changed their stance after Airmic had hired a QC, whose advice contradicted their view.

“This was really a cock-up by the Treasury, who did not understand the directive,” says Gamble. “We sent them a letter asking them to reimburse the £60,000 we had spent on legal advice, and they gave us a distinctly cool reply.”

In fact, he is highly complementary about the former regulator. “Before the FSA, our only recourse in the event of market failure was to go to the ABI, who were conflicted. When the FSA came along we suddenly had an organisation we could take our complaints to, which was not just another trade body.”

Airmic went on to work with the FSA in helping the insurance market to comply when its chief executive John Tiner demanded contract certainty at inception for commercial insurance.

The period also saw the association work with the IRM and Alarm to create the Risk Management Standard. Although this guide to best practice has since been overtaken by ISO 31000, it was sufficiently ground-breaking in its day to be translated into 14 languages and downloaded more than 500,000 times.

Gamble, now happily running the Airmic Academy, acknowledges that these events are history. Looking ahead, he is very optimistic about Airmic and the market as a whole.

“The story needs to be told that insurance is carrying out a vital economic role, and doing it effectively; it has outgrown banking in self-confidence.

“The association has continued to develop its professionalism, and John [current CEO John Hurrell] has taken it to a new level. It’s punching above its weight, we are offering a lot to the member, which is why membership has gone up. We’re in very good health for the next fifty years.”

David Gamble
Former Airmic CEO and Current Principal of Airmic Academy