History

Establishing the Insurance institute of Guernsey

Roger Hall, the last Chairman of the Guernsey Committee of the Insurance Institute of Southampton and key driver of the formation of IIG, provides his recollections of the founding of our Institute.

It should be remembered that up until 1984 Guernsey was a “Local Committee of the Insurance Institute of Southampton”. That status was originally formally established in 1959.

During the 1960’s & ‘70’s a relatively small number of people came to the Island, mainly from the UK, to work in the local branch offices of the major UK insurers of that time. Such companies included Commercial Union, Eagle Star, General Accident, Guardian Royal Exchange, National Vulcan, Norwich Union, Prudential, Sun Alliance and Royal (they were two separate companies then). Almost all of these people were members of the CII from their previous employment in the UK. Some, but by no means all, held CII qualifications. In those days the only Insurance qualifications were ACII and FCII. In addition there were a few industrial life companies with local offices e.g. Pearl and Liverpool Victoria. It should be noted that none of the mainstream UK Lloyds brokers were directly represented at that time, although there were obviously a number of locally owned brokers and agents.

When I arrived in 1973 (with the Sun Alliance) I learned about CII activities from other local insurance managers and the main event then was the annual CII dinner. Monthly lecture lunches were comparatively rare. At that stage there were probably no more than 6 people with CII qualifications.

Over the next decade the captive management business began to expand and the majority of people brought over to man these companies were CII qualified, so by 1983 there were probably about 20 with CII diplomas.

As there was a need to encourage locally born/resident employees to obtain CII qualifications it was realised that there was a greater need for a more substantial CII presence, both from general insurance educational and professional examination perspectives. A few of us within the industry felt that the best and probably the only, way forward was to establish our own Institute.

We made the appropriate enquiries of the CII in London. Their initial response was that we did not have a big enough potential membership. We had then about 60 members of which 20 had CII qualifications. The CII reckoned that it was necessary to have at least 250 potential members for a viable Institute to succeed.

There was clearly no possibility of attaining 250 members at that time and we believed that the number was probably relevant to a mainland situation but was inappropriate for an offshore island. We made enquiries and learned that neither Jersey nor Isle of Man had anything like 250 but had been established as independent institutes for some time.

We pointed these facts out to the CII in London and added that, with the growth potential of the booming captive sector, our membership could reasonably be expected to grow to 150 or so within a relatively short period. After a bit more huffing and puffing on their part, they eventually conceded and said that providing we had the official sponsorship of our parent Institute (Southampton), they would grant Guernsey full independent Institute status.

Southampton were very supportive and so, in 1984, the Insurance Institute of Guernsey was established.

Past Chairmen of the Guernsey Local Committee

1959 R. H. Le Prevost, ACII 1971 R. A. Eagle
1960 R. H. Le Prevost, ACII 1972 A. Burns
1961 O. C. Lowe 1973 G. D. Laws, C.Eng., FI Mar
1962 R. S. Mallett 1974 C. V. O’Sullivan, ACII
1963 M. White 1975 C. T. Hockaday
1964 A. S. Ryley 1976 C. T. Hockaday
1965 M. A. Jones 1977 C. J. Stevens
1966 J. Lee, ACII 1978 D. M. Jones, ACII
1967 A. A. Watson, BEM 1979 M. R. Bennett
1968 D. M. Leach, ACII 1980 R. K. Pleasant, FCII, AIB
1969 J. R. Whitaker, ACII 1981 M .B. O’Brien, ACII
1970 J. A. Riddle, ACII, FBIBA 1982 T. K. March
1983 R. A. Hall, FCII

Past Presidents of the Insurance Institute of Guernsey

1984 G. R. Lane

2006 M. Johns, ACII

1985 D. J. Ward, ACIL, ACII, FIRM

2007 R. Grant, Dip CII

1986 E. Robb

2008 D. Millar, ACII

1987 M. A. Ward, FCII, FIRM

2009 A.B. Mills, FCII

1988 C. Schofield, FCII

2010 P. Rowe, B.Sc.Econ., FCII

1989 M. J. Savage, B.A., FCA

2011 G. Le Page, ACII

1990 P. R. Walpole, ACII, FIRM

2012 C.A. Beaton FCII

1991 G.M. Powell, B.Sc., FCII

2013 C.A. Beaton FCII

1992 J.F. Wills

2014 L. Jackson ACII

1993 L R. Le Messurier, FCII

2015 L. Jackson ACII

1994 M. A. Dallamore, FCII

2016 L. Jackson ACII

1995 M. G. Carvill, ACA, ACII

2017 S. Beatty ACII

1996 R. J. Gale

2018 A. Goater, B.A. (Hons) CERT CII

1997 C. Bradley, B.A. (Hons), ACII

2019 M. Carvill BSc.(Hons) ACII MCSI MICA

1998 I. Morris, B.Sc., FIA

2020 M. Carvill BSc.(Hons) ACII MCSI MICA

1999 G.T. Snell

2021 J. Stewart ACII

2000 K. Richards, ACII

2022 J. Stewart ACII

2001 K. D. Bradley

2023 W. Woodford Cert. CII

2002 S. Clancy, ACII

2024 W. Woodford Cert. CII

2003 P. Sykes, B.A., M.Sc., FCII, ACIS

2025 W. Woodford Cert. CII

2004 C. Wakeham, Dip. CII

2005 C. Le Conte, ACA