NFU Mutual wins risk team of the year for the dynamic and engaging way it won hearts and minds to deliver its goal of building a single risk team.
Teams in the NFU Mutual's risk division were previously part of a wider finance division and were disparate in both their work activities and interaction.
This all changed in the summer of 2018 with the roll-out of the "Pro-ACTIVE for 2020" project – and NFU Mutual's decision to amalgamate its risk, actuarial and compliance functions.
As well as an opportunity to bring the newly formed division together and work on common goals, the project also sought to promote staff welfare, career development and raise the risk division's brand internally.
From the summer of 2018 to spring 2020, and across six workstreams, NFU completed and embedded 21 objectives within the risk team as part of the initiative.
This included a risk professional standards tool, which allows NFU Mutual employees to see the technical skills, values and behaviours required for every role in the risk division, and allows colleagues to self-evaluate themselves.
NFU Mutual's risk director and chief risk officer, Iain Baker, says he has been pleased with his team's reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the switch to home working.
He says: "In a matter of weeks, we moved from a few hundred staff working from home periodically to nearly 96% of our entire staff-base predominantly working from home."
While Covid-19 overshadowed much of NFU Mutual's 2020 activities, Baker says the insurer also had to contend with Brexit.
Baker says: "I've been particularly pleased with the speed in which my team has been able to react to a changing environment. There is a danger that risk professionals build a reputation for considered opinions but ones that take too long to surface in a commercial business environment – and this element of agile investigation, assessment and response is very much my vision for a modern risk function.
In Baker's view, responding to Covid-related challenges will be crucial throughout 2021.
"In addition, we're keeping a very close eye on various regulatory themes such as vulnerable customers, the financial services future regulatory framework review and fair pricing," says Baker.
He adds climate change, and customer and staff expectations around environmental issues, will also have to be monitored carefully.
Developing talented staff and the enhancement of the risk team's role are key goals for the next 12-18 months notes Baker.
Baker says NFU Mutual is also working to mitigate the emerging risks associated with significant periods of remote working. This has involved using the expertise of Geoff McDonald, an internationally recognised mental health activist and campaigner.
As for the wider insurance market, Baker says: "I think the real challenge is to rebuild customer confidence in the insurance industry's ability to meet customer expectations and provide products and services that are clearly seen to represent value for money.
"Customers need to understand what they've bought and, in simple terms, the protection that policies offer them."
