The Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF) and the Life Insurance Professional Standards Working Group (LIPSWG) will partner to establish the professional standards framework.
The two groups signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together to benefit the industry and would also undertake a demographic survey and develop an approach to assess current knowledge defined within the agreed framework.
ANZIIF board president and AMP Life chief executive, Megan Beer, said: “Becoming more trustworthy requires us to demonstrate competence. Our commitment to lifting professionalism in our industry starts with key roles that deliver value to our customers”.
“Defining what it means to be an insurance professional is fundamental to the future of our industry and working collaboratively is the way we will achieve meaningful change.”
The LIPSWG said its members believed the program would improve the professionalism of the life insurance industry, build and improve community confidence in life insurance, and create a significantly better experience for customers. It noted the project had the added benefit of creating cultural change and driving strategy to attract and retain career employees.
The demographic study would survey the industry to understand what level of background and skills people brought to the life insurance industry and another study would develop a knowledge-based assessment within the agreed framework.
ANZIIF chief executive, Prue Willsford, said: ‘We will lead the collaborative project to establish a professional standards framework which will determine the different job families, and the competencies required to fulfil job roles at every level of experience”.
“The significant undertaking will assist CEO’s and leaders to create a comprehensive roadmap to understand the investment required to build professional skills within their business.”
LIPSWG’s membership comprised of AIA Australia, AMP Life, BT Life Insurance, ClearView, MLC Life Insurance, TAL Life Limited and Zurich.
