UK insurance professionals completed almost double the minimum amount of Continued Professional Development (CPD) training required by regulators last year.
30 MAY 2019 | CHRIS SEEKINGS
That is according to a study by Premium Credit, which found that insurers spent an average of 29 hours in CPD training in 2018, far more than the minimum requirement of 15 hours.
The findings also show that two in three insurance brokers plan to increase training for their staff this year, with a quarter expecting this to rise "significantly".
Moreover, the study found that insurers' average budgets for CPD training spiked by 29% after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) updated its minimum requirements last year.
"It is impressive that companies are doing more than double the minimum requirements and plan to invest further this year," Premium Credit director, Adam Morghem, said.
"There are also tangible commercial benefits to be had too. The cost of this investment can be subsidised by firms taking advantage of accredited free training."
Insurance professionals spent most time studying the laws governing insurance distribution as part of their CPD training last year, followed by accessing customer needs.
The study also found that 58% of insurers expect a rise in CPD training for premium finance over the next two years as credit is increasingly used for insurance.
The FCA said last year that some respondents to a consultation on the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) thought that 15 hours of annual CPD training was insufficient.
However, others questioned whether CPD is an effective tool at all, and argued that greater discretion should be given to firms to determine their own training needs.
The FCA said at the time: "The 15 hours of CPD is the minimum requirement of the IDD and therefore must be implemented.
"While we do have the option to go beyond the minimum requirements and implement either more hours of CPD or a mandatory qualification, we do not believe that there is a strong case to do so at this time."
