Wealth Management

WHAT WILL THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY LOOK LIKE POST COVID-19

Published

1 year ago

June 17, 2020

admin

Michael Foote, Director of cost comparison site, Quote Goat

Pre-lockdown blues

The modern insurance industry began life in London during the 1700s, when the first fire, accident and life insurance companies were established. Fast forward 400 years and you have an industry according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI) that manages investments of £1.7 trillion and employs over 300,000. This makes it the largest in Europe and the fourth largest in the world.

Prior to COVID-19. the industry’s main concern was Brexit and the uncertainty of a “no deal” threatening the UK’s position as a global hub for insurance services. Another was the impact of IT failures, and breaches arising from cyber-crime over the past few years. This led the FCA, PRA and Bank of England in December last year to demand that firms ensure their operational resilience by undertaking costly and time-consuming mapping exercises.

Michael Foote

It is unfortunate this activity was not carried out sooner as only three months later the whole of the UK would be placed under lockdown as a result of the pandemic, testing the resilience of the UK’s insurance industry like never before.

An industry under fire!

Restaurants, pubs, hotels and gyms were just some of the “non-essential” businesses forced to shut down as a result of Government measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Many thought that their business Interruption Insurance would cover their financial losses, not realising this might not necessarily be the case. This has resulted in accusations that the insurance industry mis-sold its policies and demands that they be amended retroactively.

Rightly or wrongly the reputation of the industry has been tarnished and needs to be addressed to restore consumer confidence, especially as the economic damage from the pandemic continues. The Chancellor Rishi Sunak stated last month that the UK is already in “significant recession” given the economy shrank by 2% in the first three months of 2020. A slow recovery is more likely to limit insurance companies’ revenue growth and lead to a fall in demand for products and services.

A brighter future is in reach

If the insurance industry is to return to anything like business as usual, companies within it will likely have to adopt a strategy that prioritises slimming down, restructuring and the use of technology to make efficiency savings.

In the first instance no one wants to talk about job cuts, but the industry has always been a bloated one. Unfortunately “downsizing” is a quick way to reduce expenses and was already happening before the pandemic. For example companies like Aviva announced around 1800 jobs were to go last year and Direct Line stated 800 people would be laid off in February. Such decisions will have to be made as part of a process realigning company portfolios in order to understand which parts of a business are driving value, in order to remove or readjust the parts that are not.

Finally we should expect a greater impetus towards the digitisation of the industry. Technology will be key to benefiting the customer as we can expect to see a greater focus on service delivery and transparency. For insurance companies themselves, the pandemic has tested their resilience by forcing them to adapt to new ways of working. For example, many sales teams still fail to exploit digital sales fully, instead relying on onerous manual processes which can take even longer when working from home.

This will begin to change as companies transform themselves digitally but will be a long, expensive process, that relies on buy-in from employees and senior management to ensure success. Efforts will be further stymied by a lack of available talent, as every industry is looking to technology to drive growth, and suitably skilled people to do so are in short supply.

If the insurance industry can get all these factors right and re-establish trust in their offerings, then their future will be a positive one. This will not only benefit our society as a result of the reassurance and protection they provide but will also ensure they can continue to play a key role in supporting the UK’s recovery.

Wealth Management

WHAT WILL TRADING FLOORS OF A POST-COVID WORLD LOOK LIKE?

Published

5 days ago

June 17, 2021

admin

Ganesh Iyer, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer, IPC

The last year brought around a monumental change to the way most people work due to the impact of the pandemic, and the financial services industry was no exception. The last few months, though, have provided hope that life could very soon return to ‘normal’ with the strong vaccination efforts around the world.

This time provides the perfect opportunity for all of us to consider the best aspects of remote working in a bid to create a new concept of what a healthy work-life balance should look like. One way financial firms could achieve this is through developing distributed hub-and-spoke offices or putting in place the infrastructure so people can work on a longer-term basis from remote locations. But for this to happen, the financial services community needs to overcome the challenges of ensuring security, reliability, resilience, compliance, all while adhering to strict regulatory requirements.

Importance of flexibility

As we look towards the future, banks such as JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs have recently informed their employees that they should be prepared to return to offices again in the coming weeks. News like this may seem like the financial services sector is keen to return to pre-pandemic ways of working, but this is not necessarily an outlook supported by the whole industry.

For example, the Financial Times reported that there are differences between North America and Europe over the speed at which bankers should return to their desks, with some US executives calling for a swift return to pre-pandemic normality while many European banks – such as London-based HSBC and France’s Société Générale – are taking a different approach. These variations demonstrate a need for banks to remain flexible to the ever-changing circumstances and differing views, especially as the sector has been quite effective in working productively away from the trading floor.

However, even for larger institutions, the balance between flexibility, security, reliability, and scalability is a challenging task. There are many firms that are still experiencing significant pressure on costs and resources, and there is still uncertainty around what the future will bring. It is important that firms consider whether there needs to be an even split between homes and offices, or if some employees will prefer to permanently work remotely, as well as prepare for any future scenarios that may require remote working at scale again. The list of questions goes on and they may be difficult to answer, but they are fundamental to the choices that financial firms will make regarding the vendors they work with and the technologies they implement.

Fortunately, many of the elements that address these concerns already exist – it is just a matter of implementing them in a way that is right for firm-specific needs. In the last 10 years, there has been a growing trend towards firms utilising the cloud and taking advantage of the subscription model, which has enabled technology vendors to create solutions that combine flexibility with reliability, and scalability with certainty. The subscription model benefits firms of all sizes and ensures everyone has access to the same state-of-the-art technology as their competitors.

There are also several well-proven benefits of leveraging technology solutions through a subscription, or software-as-a-service (SaaS). As most businesses adopting a cloud-native environment will know, subscriptions mean companies only pay for the solutions they need, while also having the choice to expand and consume more as the business grows. A subscription model also means firms will not be implementing aging technologies, as SaaS is evergreen given it can be seamlessly updated and upgraded in the background, with new delivery channels, access mechanisms and markets added and made available on-demand.

Adaptable trading environment

Being able to trade at any time, from anywhere and from any device in a way that is secure and compliant is a huge competitive advantage during this uncertain climate.

For example, a newly established firm requires a solutions provider that can offer the latest, most efficient, and affordable technology that is scalable. Additionally, all businesses are now very much aware of the importance of resilience – both now and for the future – and require a solution that offers an element of futureproofing, enabling them to adapt and maintain their competitive edge for any unforeseen events or challenges that may come their way. This means technology and infrastructure providers need to provide a higher standard of service and constantly evolve, update, and upgrade their tech so that it operates seamlessly and transparently for clients.

Supporting the post-COVID trading world

There are many unknowns and uncertainties about what our post-COVID world will look like, but one thing that is certain is that there will be change. Regardless of whether firms choose to revert to pre-pandemic ways of working or not, almost every industry has learned valuable lessons based on the experiences of the last year of the vital need to be flexible and adaptive in order to be able to pivot in whatever direction the business needs to take to thrive and maintain resilience. By leveraging the right technologies, adopting a cloud-native environment, and using the subscription model, financial firms can ensure they are ready to embrace the working environment of the post-COVID world in whatever form it takes.

Finance

A BRIEF GUIDE TO TRADING IN CRYPTOCURRENCY SECURELY

Published

1 week ago

June 13, 2021

admin

Trading in cryptocurrency is becoming increasingly popular in the financial world. Crypto’s huge rises in value over recent months has encouraged many to consider it a valid and important way to invest their money. However, it can be tricky for someone new to the world of crypto to know how to start. The process of setting up can take a few days, but once you’re ready to go, it can be fairly simple to start trading.

Find A Crypto Wallet

To store crypto, you will need a cryptocurrency wallet. There are many wallets out there to choose from, in both software and hardware forms. You could choose a free to use software wallet, to begin with, and then invest in a more secure hardware wallet if you plan to hold amounts of crypto for the medium to long term. Hardware wallets typically cost anywhere from £50 to £150, so it is worth doing your homework and finding the right wallet for your needs.

Sign Up With A Brokerage

You will need an account with a brokerage service to begin trading. It would be best if you looked for brokerages that offer good security, an easy-to-use interface and plenty of cryptocurrencies to choose from.

You will need to provide some identification to open an account with a reputable brokerage, and it may take a few days to get your account verified. Therefore, it is vital to do your research and ensure that the brokerage you choose is legit before providing any personal information.

Get Help From Experts

Once you have your account up and running don’t rush to buy your first Bitcoin. As a beginner to the world of crypto trading, there are plenty of potential pitfalls, and talking to experts can go a long way to reducing the risks.

Check out Traders Of Crypto, a cryptocurrency community that provides expert, collective knowledge to those starting out with crypto trading. There you can find plenty of free guides to help you on your trading journey.

Choose Your Crypto

The next step is to decide on the crypto you want to trade in. There are thousands out there to choose from, with the most well-known being Bitcoin. The more popular the crypto, the more likely it is to remain stable, so it may help to start with Bitcoin for your first transactions.

Once you have some experience, you could branch out to smaller altcoins, though it is often wisest to keep most of your trades to the bigger coins.

Make Sure You Have The Capital

You will need sufficient capital to buy and trade cryptocurrency. You can add this to your brokerage account, typically by bank transfer or debit card payment. It is crucial to keep in mind that the value of crypto frequently changes, so ensure that you are spending only what you can afford.

Start Trading

You can start by either trading cash for crypto or crypto for crypto. However, keep in mind that there may be brokerage costs for each trade, so you should choose your trades wisely.