2024 Executive Outlook |Kenny Nicholls, Western Financial Group

Kenny Nicholls, president, CEO, Western Financial Group

If there’s ever been a time for all industry players to come together and focus on the consumer, it is now.

Much of the insurance industry’s focus over the past few years has been on managing premium levels, investing in technology, heightened M&A activity, dealing with more catastrophes, and fiercely negotiating reinsurance terms. But the consumer has somehow become lost in the shuffle, so 2024 must be dedicated to our customers and educating the public about the true value of insurance, before someone else comes in and tells us how to do our job.

The broker’s main responsibility is to understand consumers’ needs and give them valuable advice on the right coverage and how to mitigate risk. Another important role is to educate their customers about the terms of the policy, the residual risks, and explain the pricing. Weather, inflation and cyber-related risks are a few examples of drivers making insurance more complex than ever before for consumers.

For many insurers, these drivers led to consistent and important premium increases over the past three or four years, making insurance less affordable for many Canadians. As specialists, brokers need to guide consumers through these changes and be ready to explain their impact on premiums and coverage disparity between carriers. Today, consumers expect transparency, choice and ease of doing business. For these reasons, industry players must continue to focus on creating, and providing seamless digital connectivity to and from policy and broker management systems.

Industry players should also work on making policy wordings more consistent and easier for consumers to understand. Collaborative efforts between provincial broker associations, Insurance Bureau of Canada, Insurance Brokers Association of Canada, and various regulatory bodies and levels of government will start generating positive results on topics like Cats, premium-setting, and fair treatment of customers, contributing to improving the industry’s sustainability and its reputation. All industry players must make an effort to promote our industry and show Canadians the importance of insurance to our economy, our security and our overall well-being.

Today’s younger generations are motivated and passionate about sustainability, making a difference, and ensuring the world becomes a much better place. It’s about time the industry comes out of its shell and tells everyone: insurance is all of that and more.