The latest newsletter of the Association of Financial Mutuals includes:
Click here to read Mutually Yours
Another exhilerating conference has finished. We will be providing a full report in our next edition of Mutually Yours; in the meantime, slides from the event, and photos can be downloaded from the AFM website.
Each year we report on the standards of corporate governance within our sector. The latest report is now available on our website, along with other governance reports and our code.
To view the report, click here.
Click here to read Mutually Yours. This month's articles include:
AFM has released a new report, commissioned from Independent Audit, to assess culture in the board of mutuals. The report shows a high level of confidence that board culture has a positive impact on decision-making for the benefit of customers and staff in mutual organisations.
This edition of our newsletter includes the following items:
The Insurance Distribution Directive makes significant changes to the way insurers provide information to customers about products. FCA is issuing two consultations on this in 2017: our response to the first one can be downloaded here.
AFM Mutually Yours, April 2017 out now with all the latest on financial mutuals
This month’s Mutually Yours includes articles on:
For AFM member news, click here.
AFM responds to EIOPA on complex insurance-based investment products
AFM has issued its response to European insurance regulator EIOPA on its consultation on complex insurance-based investment products. We welcome the pragmatic approach taken, but recognise there is still scope for home regulators, including FCA, to take a less helpful approach. We are concerned this would affect thousands of consumers who purchase products from financial mutuals.
For our full response, follow this link.
AFM staff survey 2016 shows overwhelming support for mutual and not-for-profit ownership and leadership
Our new survey on the attitudes of staff in AFM members to their ownership model, and to the leadership model, demonstrate how important it is for employees of the organisation to be its strongest advocates.
Employees in the sector recognise how the model of ownership has a positive influence on the values and ethics of the business, and that customers are attracted to the model.
Coupled with leadership that is perceived as visionary, and which enables staff to deliver great results, that looks like a recipe for sucess.
To see a summary of the slides, click HERE.
AFM welcomes 8 new member companies from the BHCA
On 1 January 2017, members of the British Health Care Association transferred their membership to AFM. This brings AFM membership now to 47, with another 22 Associate members.
The new members are all health cash plan providers, and are run on a not-for-profit basis. This reinforces AFM's growing role in healthcare and protection, and strengthens its voice for representing small insurers run in the best interests of their members.
To coincide with the widened membership, AFM is establishing a new Healthcare and Protection Committee, and is redesigning its website to stress the increasing focus on healthcare. The BHCA website has now closed, though their branding will be retained on AFM's website and, for two year's at least, on its health related project work.
The new members are:
The new members from BHCA join Paycare and Sovereign Health Care, who were previously members of both BHCA and AFM.
British Health Care Association joins forces with AFM
The Association of Financial Mutuals (AFM) and The British Healthcare Association (BHCA) announce today that they will merge – a move, which bolsters their membership of financial mutuals and not-for-profit insurers, and confirms them as a stronger force in the healthcare sector.
For more, click here.