History

The first insurance institute was founded in Manchester in 1873. This was followed over the next twenty-three years by the formation of insurance institutes in Glasgow (1881), Dublin (1885), Norwich (1886), Birmingham (1887), Leeds (1888), Bristol (1890) and Newcastle (1896).

In 1897, representatives from the then 10 established local insurance institutes decided that they should form an association, and the Federation of Insurance Institutes of Great Britain and Ireland was established as an examining body, with the local institutes forming classes and providing other educational facilities. This Federation also committed to produce an annual Journal of papers of relevance to insurance, which we continue to maintain today.

Further local institutes were formed over subsequent years, and in 1908, the Federation became the Insurance Institute of Great Britain and Ireland before soon transforming into the Chartered Insurance Institute when granted its Royal Charter by King George V on 17 January 1912. The charter made the organisation a single entity with the same rights and powers as an individual and stated that it should “secure and justify the confidence of the public in its members and the insurance sector.”

The Insurance Institute of Croydon was founded in 1933 as the Croydon Centre of The Insurance Institute of London and became an institute in its own right in 1949, our first President being R W Phillips (Prudential)

We represent the interests of the insurance and financial services community in the area. This stretches from Sidcup in the east to beyond Sutton in the west. Our southern boundary is Redhill and we go north to beyond Streatham, bordering on the London Institute, including the major conurbations of Croydon, Bromley, Reigate & Redhill and Sutton.

In 2014, we rebranded to The North Downs Insurance Institute to reflect our geographical spread.

Our neighbouring Institutes are; Brighton, Guildford, Reading, London, Mid-kent and Royal Tunbridge Wells.