Diary of an Insurance PR: FWD Consulting's Elliot Lane

Monday

The week starts with the usual ‘motivational speech’ aimed at my teenage son to get out of bed and convince him that early morning washing could be beneficial for not just him but his fellow London commuters too.

However, this week I am slightly prouder than usual as he begins a week’s training within a major investigative media organisation where hopefully he might be a chip off the old block and eventually have a career in the media.

Head to the FWD’s offices in the City, where we work Monday to Wednesday, rather than the ubiquitous Tuesday to Thursday that many firms have chosen.

We decided to allow staff to keep Thursday and Friday flexible. Sadly, Mondays and Fridays in the City are relatively quiet compared with the halcyon days pre-pandemic, but this work/life balance is something that appeals to staff.

I begin the week in meetings discussing client accounts/activities and catching up with FWD Research and First Quartile divisional staff.

Also I respond to one of our global broking clients on content ideas for its aviation team, covering issues including the importance war and political risk coverage in response to geopolitical risks such as the Russian/Ukraine conflict; and the issues facing satellite operators contending with increased vulnerability to space debris in the Earth’s low and medium orbit.

Finish the day by meeting old friend to watch the filming of the new series of Sky’s Never Mind the Buzzcocks at TV Centre.

Always recommend finishing a Monday with a good laugh. Sets you up for the week ahead.

Tuesday

Today actually faced massive queues in the City coffee shops before 8.30am, which is a surprising change.

It is encouraging to see the Aviva and Aon offices, plus the Lloyd’s Building and Leadenhall Market, filling up and people milling around again.

Spend a few minutes dodging luggage cases in the shop and on the street from those travelling for overnight work sleepovers.

The PR team receive welcome texts from an old client who has moved to a new vice-president marketing role at a large India-based technology company.

She wants to talk through a scope of work for PR opportunities across print and digital (paid and organic) plus events and speaker opportunities within UK fintech. A sweet spot for us.

Meet an old journalist friend for lunch who normally lives and works in Hong Kong but is over for his annual return trip to reconnect with Blighty society.

Great to chew the cud over UK life, why the Australian cricket team always cheat during Ashes tours, and the issues facing the Asian insurance profession compared with the UK, especially Taiwanese insurers facing hundreds of thousands of Covid claims, which is affecting the European reinsurance market.

We finish the afternoon by buying a congratulatory beer for Insurance Post editorial legend Jonathan ‘Swifty’ Swift to mark his 25 years with the publication. Quite the legacy – we salute him for it.

Wednesday

As a multi-disciplined agency, we try and integrate our other divisions into the PR programmes we create for clients.

I speak to our new director within the FWD Research team, Martin Grimwood, who is about to join us this month on how we can assist companies with their communication issues surrounding the new FCA Consumer Duty rules.

In February, a FCA open letter to GI CEOs said that firms “may have considered the requirements superficially or are over-confident that their existing policies and processes will be adequate”.

We believe that the FCA in this letter were reminding GI CEOs that change is obviously happening within their organisations, but not necessarily as intended and the regulator will be watching closely.

GI firms like all financial services firms still need to make the customer the centre of their business to be truly complaint within the duty regulation – they can only achieve this through cultural change.

On talking this through, Martin and I agree that at the heart of the duty is the requirement to evidence this change and to show how customer outcomes have been affected.

There is a defined ‘duty ecosystem’ and FWD Research will soon be launching a framework we have developed to consistently monitor outcomes across external and internal data sources. Watch this space.

Thursday

No office today as I spend Thursday and Friday working from home. These days are good for catching up on admin and replying to emails, planning, et cetera.

Our legal expenses insurer client is planning communication programmes around how the cost-of-living crisis means more SMEs, landlords and employees are enquiring about legal advice to tackle disputes from all quarters.

Later in the day, I take a train to East Sussex as I have been invited to a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Glyndebourne.

This is an annual event I take with a dear friend who is an ex-CEO of a major UK insurer, as we share a love of opera and classical music, and he is now working with several Maltese insurance and financial services firms as a consultant and has various non-executive director positions.

Malta is becoming a destination for many alternative insurance vehicles post-Brexit and the island wants to promote its advantages as an offshore destination against rivals Dublin, Gibraltar, Guernsey, et al.

We discuss our plans to host an event in the City later this year for the UK London Market and broking community to explain the reinvention of Malta as a hub for protected cell and reinsurance operations and as a passporting centre for the future.

Friday

I wake to the screams of my wife, who fails to recognise me in the house. I haven’t been around much this week. She hands me a list of chores she wants done in the house over the weekend.

I live in Whitstable, so usually on a Friday I go for a walk by the sea. I would normally swim if the weather allowed but South East Water has yet again pumped thousands of litres of effluent in the water.

As the local action group SOS Whitstable says: “Keep the poo in the loo.” It is a disgrace.

Reflecting on the week, it has been busier than usual and mostly I spend my time replying to emails, editing and re-editing content, plus cajoling clients and journalists to engage with each other.

But after my own 22 years in the industry, I still get the excitement of looking at risk and finding ways to amplify the messages and narratives within the insurance profession. I do hope insurance PR looks a little more exciting than it can sound.

Elliot Lane is joint managing director of FWD Consulting