Chartered Insurance Broker Taunton, Somerset

I recently obtained the Advanced Diploma of the Chartered Insurance Institute. A fantastic personal achievement – it took me the best part of a decade and I’ve moved house three times, got married and had two children during the same period! – but, unfortunately, it doesn’t really mean that much to the general public.

To sum up, I can now put the letters ACII after my name and, in order to do so, I’ve taken a lot more exams than someone with the suffix Cert CII (3 multiple-choice exams) and Dip CII (roughly 5 short essay-style answer exams). As such, I like to think it shows I have a commitment to insurance and to providing the correct advice. If nothing else, it means I’ve read a lot of textbooks that encompass a wide-range of subjects in the insurance world and some of that must have sunk in!

Up until nearly 4 years ago this was all the consumer had to go on and, without my explanation above, how was one to know where in the pecking order Cert CII, Dip CII and ACII came?

Thankfully, in 2010 the Chartered Insurance Institute sought to put this right by publishing a document they called the Aldermanbury Declaration.

In short, they put in place some standards that meant an individual member of the Chartered Insurance Institute could use the Chartered title and insurance firms could also hold Chartered status.

The notion is fantastic and it’s a concept that I have fully embraced. At the time I had the suffix Dip CII and I couldn’t wait to achieve ACII so that I could use the Chartered Insurance Broker title. After all, I consider myself in the same camp as other business advisors such as Accountants and they get to be Chartered.

The Chartered firm status is also a great concept and that will be a goal for this firm as it grows. There are regular reports of firms that don’t have integrity – one national chain of brokers was recently fined to the tune of £7.5m by the FCA for mis-selling – so it’s good for the consumer to have a measure of quality.

Be careful though. The firm you’re dealing with may have Chartered status but how qualified is the individual who is actually advising you? The requirements mean the large national firms can have the edge in achieving Chartered status simply by having enough employees on the payroll with the right qualifications. But it can mean that the majority aren’t as qualified as the Chartered status suggests.

Your insurance is important and you need to know you’re getting the right advice. Make sure whoever you deal with is qualified to advise you.