Ian Callaghan speech at AMG Wealth event, Hong Kong

It has been a huge honour for me to serve as CII President during 2024.

I want to share with you all here, I first joined the CII as an 18-year-old, so it is with great pride that I be with CII some forty years later as President. Given my extended tenure with the CII, I wanted my presidential theme for this year to be ‘members’. I wanted to focus on the work being done up and down the UK, and by our members internationally, letting them know how valuable they are to the Institute and, in turn, reinforcing how the CII can help them in their career journeys.

My own journey with CII began when my manager encouraged me to join the Institute, saying it would broaden my horizons and open doors for me. I’ve met thousands of insurance professionals through technical (now known as CPD) and networking events over the subsequent years, and that opportunity has always struck me as a core benefit of the Institute.

Those events only happen because of our volunteers, who I’ve often said are the bedrock on which the CII is built. Our local institutes continue to be hubs for professionals to meet, communicate, guide and support one another, and it is our volunteers that make sure those institutes thrive. Just as my manager encouraged me, I am always encouraging members to get involved with their local institute – put themselves forward to join the council in whatever capacity they can, becoming part of something and giving something back.

Getting out and about remains important to me, and over the course of this year I have attended 40 local institute events, council meetings and annual dinners. I’ve heard some wonderful stories of success and, found myself able to offer words of advice along the way when asked.

But the main reason for attending the events, has been to ask our members how the CII can serve them better, finding out what challenges they face and how we can support them. They have told me how they value the support the CII offers at both a national and local level in relation to continuing professional development, and how our qualifications continue to build vital knowledge that means they can better serve their customers and clients. I take from this that the more value the CII can offer, the more young and diverse talent we can attract, and the more our members will be proud to serve the public as part of our profession.  

To that end, when I spoke to CII CEO, Matthew Hill, following his appointment earlier this year, I said I wanted to see the CII increasingly engage with the FCA, ABI, BIBA and other leading organisations both UK and international in order to shape the way in which insurance and financial services professionals work - being thought leaders helps us to feed into the learning and CPD we offer CII members, so they are always be ahead of the curve.

I am delighted by the progress I have seen in such a short space of time, including through the heightened contributions of our professional communities, the roundtable events that have been conducted with members, regulators and consumer groups, the publication of White Papers, and reciprocal attendance at major conferences.

In addition, I have also sponsored a number of initiatives during my year. These are:

• The Corporate Chartered Review which, will see the launch of in late Q1 next year.
• The introduction of some of our New Generation participants onto three of the CII Board Committees as observers. These Committees being Audit and Risk Committee, Professional Standards Committee and Education and Learning Committee.
• The introduction of a new PFS New Generation Programme to be launched in 2025.

I would like to take this opportunity today to say a personal thank-you to Arnold, Chairman of AMG Group leading his management team to support the professional development of CII, and hundreds of consultants so professionally shape their work each and every day for professional development pathway. Also, congratulations to AMG Financial Group for its 25^th anniversary, Kenny advised me that AMG Financial Group is now the biggest IFA in Hong Kong, this achievement is a solid proof of courage, effort and commitment not just the IFA business model but also vital to the professional development of the insurance industry. 

I would also like to pay tribute to all those who we have recognised through awards this year – either for their successes in study, examinations, on completing CII qualifications and recognition Awards or possibly in future, through The President’s awards. There are so many stories of personal success to be celebrated.

I’d also like to thank my Hong Kong colleagues for all their hard work and efforts of our Group colleagues who delivered some wonderful events for our two membership bodies – the CII and PFS – such as our UK Network Conference in June, the Shaping the Future of Insurance conference in October, and delivering the PFS National Conference once again in November. Also of this memorable event in Hong Kong, I believe, The feedback from you about our support has been rightly very positive and gives us confidence as we plan for 2025.

Thank you for all your support – it has been a privilege.