Chartered Insurance Institute
The Chartered Insurance Institute is a professional body dedicated to building public trust in the insurance and financial planning profession. The CII's purpose, as set out in its 1912 royal charter, is to 'Secure and justify the confidence of the public' in its members and the insurance sector as a whole. It aims to do this by setting standards of integrity, technical competence, and business capability. CII is a part of the Chartered Body Alliance which includes Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment and Chartered Banker Institute.
In April 2022 Alan Vallance was appointed as the CEO of Chartered Insurance Institute, taking over after Sian Fisher's 6-year tenure. In October 2023, news reports suggested that CII had announced the departure of CEO Vallance in Q2 2024, potentially, to take up an equivalent role at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Origins
The first Insurance Institute was established in Manchester on 14 March 1873 to provide an environment for the social exchange of knowledge and ideas on the subject of insurance, with a particular focus on fire insurance, given the number of textile manufacturers in the city. The Insurance Institute of Manchester had a selective membership policy and required members to hold senior positions within the industry, which led to the creation of a Junior Insurance Institute in 1883 to provide education to those new to insurance.The second local institute to be formed was the Insurance and Actuarial Society of Glasgow founded in 1881, which held education as its main focus. Following that the Insurance Institute of Ireland, Insurance Institute of Norwich, Birmingham Insurance Institute, Insurance Institute of Yorkshire, Bristol, Insurance Institute of Newcastle upon Tyne, and Nottingham, were formed, though with varying names, e.g. Insurance Social and Musical Society of Bristol.
There was a growing interest in the idea of a central institute which would bolster the work and profile of the existing institutes, and so in March 1897 a conference of representatives from the 10 institutes was held in Manchester, and it was decided that they should form an association called The Federation of Insurance Institutes of Great Britain and Ireland. At this conference, it was also proposed that an annual journal of insurance papers should be produced, that the institutes should jointly offer examinations and certificates, and that an insurance clerks’ orphanage should be established.
Initially, the responsibility for the Journal was assumed by the Birmingham and Glasgow institutes, while the Yorkshire institute and the Manchester association prepared the educational program, proposing that the Federation should act only as an examining body while local institutes undertook the teaching. The Insurance Clerks’ Orphanage was established as an independent organization in 1902, operating out of the offices of the London Salvage Corps.
At the 1906 conference of the Federation, it was decided that a royal charter should be sought and that the London Institute should act as a headquarters. In 1908, as a step towards gaining the charter, a constitution was agreed between the institutes, and the name was changed to The Insurance Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. The royal charter was granted in 1912 and the Insurance Institute of Great Britain and Ireland became the Chartered Insurance Institute. At this time there were 21 local institutes in Great Britain and Ireland and 4 affiliated institutes from within the British Empire.
Charter
The royal charter incorporating the Chartered Insurance Institute was granted on 17 January 1912 by King George V. Each royal charter that is granted is unique in format and content as it is drawn up and contains the bye-laws deemed relevant by the body to be incorporated. A new supplemental charter, replacing all former versions of the charter, was granted by Queen Elizabeth II on 27 January 1987.Article 3 of the CII's current charter identifies the six "objects and purposes for which the Institute is constituted":
- To promote efficiency and improvement in the practice of insurance among persons engaged or employed in that activity, whether Members of the Institute or not, to render the conduct of such business more effective and professional, to secure and justify the confidence of the public and employers by the conduct of reliable tests of the competence of persons engaged or employed in insurance and the provisions of reliable assurances of their trustworthiness and to provide and maintain a central organization for those purposes;
- To promote and assist the study of any subjects bearing on any branch of insurance;
- To collect and form a body of expert opinion on the law and practice relating to all things connected with insurance;
- To exercise supervision and control over the professional standards and conduct of the Members. To seek to improve the professional status of Fellows and Associates and to promote the interests, welfare, and advancement of the Members in general;
- To provide information and advice about employment in insurance for Members and others;
- To assist Members and the dependents of Members or of deceased Members suffering financial hardship by such measures as may be deemed appropriate and to contribute directly or indirectly to the work of the Insurance Charities and any other appropriate fund or charity.
The Insurance Hall
The Insurance Hall is a Grade-II listed building in a Tudorbethan style with stained glass windows bearing the names and emblems of insurance companies that subscribed to the CII and finished internally with wood paneling. The building initially contained a 480-seat conference hall, a council chamber, a library, a museum, a common-room and writing room for members, 4 classrooms and offices occupied by the CII staff, the Insurance Institute of London, the Life Office's Association, the Insurance Charities, and the Insurance Official's Society.
The Insurance Hall was one of few buildings in the area left standing after the bombardment of 29–30 December 1940, in part due to the efforts of the house steward, Gordon Edward Stewart, who remained in the building to put out fires during the raid. Following the raid, the CII hosted the events of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries and the Institute of Actuaries as their halls had been destroyed.In 1964 the adjoining land at 21 Aldermanbury was developed into a 5-story extension to the Insurance Hall to provide more office space for the CII. In 1986, after a period of refurbishment that redeveloped the conference hall and lower ground floor into a banqueting suite, the Insurance Hall was reopened by the Lord Mayor of London.
In 2018 the CII sold Aldermanbury to the Corporation of London and moved to 21 Lombard Street. The CII has since moved again to 20 Fenchurch Street, sharing a floor with the Chartered Institute of Securities and investments.
In 2020 the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment and Chartered Insurance Institute both reviewed their property footprints following the pandemic 2020. The CII decided to sub-let part of the CISI's existing office space at the prime location of 20 Fenchurch Street from early 2021. The arrangement will see the CISI remodeling their existing space in the building to create a new physically separate office for the CII and will form the main headquarters for both international organizations.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms of the Chartered Insurance Institute was granted on 25 September 1933. It is composed of a blue shield displaying symbols representing the four original classes of insurance:- Salamander representing fire insurance
- Three anchors representing marine insurance
- Two parallel chains representing accident insurance
- A wheat-sheaf representing life insurance
The full display of heraldic attributes, known as achievement, was granted in 1957 to mark the CII's Diamond Jubilee. The additional elements are:
- Crown: a Saxon crown and a medieval helmet representing the connection of the site of Aldermanbury with its history, as the area was the site of an Anglo-Saxon fortified residence.
- Helmet: the helmet, made of steel, in profile and with its visor closed, denotes the rank of ‘gentlemen and esquires’ who constituted the CII's member base.
- Crest: the crest takes the shape of a hand grasping a sword by its blade, instead of by its handle, symbolizing the risk-mitigating effects of insurance. It is also intended to represent the sword of St Paul, a feature of the coat of arms of the City of London, which was, and still is, the main center of insurance.
- Supporters: on the right-hand side stands the royal lion of England and on the left-hand side is a bearded unicorn, the symbol of Scotland. Both have silver fishtails, golden fins, and talons to commemorate the institute's overseas activities. The role played by the CII in the education and support of the insurance profession is symbolized by the books held by both supporters.
- Motto: the Latin motto ‘consilium scientia located beneath the coat of arms. It is interpreted as ‘counsel and knowledge’, emphasizing the dependence of those working in insurance upon sound knowledge and wise advice, owed as much by the institute to those who seek its aid as by the professional insurer as a member of the institute to its clients. The motto was first used by the CII in a golden badge created for the president in 1926 and was later incorporated in the achievement.