Diary of an Insurer: Ecclesiastical’s Laura Carter

Monday

It’s an early start on Monday as I head to London for an event hosted by the Association of Governing Bodies of Independent Schools.

It’s at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre near the Houses of Parliament and opposite Westminster Abbey, so it’s great to see some of the sights of London while it’s relatively free of tourists. I enjoy attending panel sessions to hear about the evolving challenges and opportunities in the education sector.

I’ve worked for Ecclesiastical for more than six years and I’ve recently been promoted to the role of customer segment director. Events like these are really important to reiterate our support for the sectors in which we trade and they give me an opportunity to get closer to our customers to understand their needs.

Tuesday

Tuesday is another early start, for my hour commute into London Waterloo for the second event of the week – the Tourism Alliance’s Insights Conference in Piccadilly. This is our first engagement with the organisation as we look for opportunities to engage with customers in our newest sector, leisure.

The event is a great success for us, with a number of conversations off the back of it. My colleague, Dan Tatam, and I are also invited to the launch of their manifesto at the Houses of Parliament in the afternoon.

I must admit that I had looked forward to being able to enter the building that I have seen so many times from the outside and on the news – the grandeur certainly doesn’t disappoint.

The train journey home in the evening gives me a chance to catch-up on emails and to make some notes on the two events, plus follow up on some actions that came from various conversations.

Wednesday

Another early start, but this time in a different direction – our head office in Gloucestershire. I find the drive along the M4 gives me the rare opportunity of being able to think through my workload uninterrupted – some of my best thoughts occur on that journey.

It’s a busy day ahead and I’m looking forward to catching up with members of my team. I enjoy coming to our purpose-built head office, Benefact House - it’s a modern, dynamic workplace and there’s a great buzz there, with Wednesday always being one of the busiest.

I’m in the process of recruiting for my previous role, with a number of interviews taking place today. The customer segment team, which I now lead, has grown considerably over the past few years to manage increasing regulatory requirements.

We take our responsibilities of providing fair value and good customer outcomes very seriously and have built a strong team of individuals from different insurance backgrounds who constantly challenge that we are doing the right thing for our customers and brokers.

The evening is wrapped up with a quiz and fish and chip supper with the wider underwriting department in the head office restaurant. It’s a great way of getting everyone together, away from the day-to-day work and to see the ‘healthy’ competition come out in full force.

Thursday

I stay overnight in Gloucester, so today is my second day in Benefact House. I start the morning with introductory calls to two charity partners we work with. 

These give me a good insight into the specific areas they target and to also understand more about the work we have done with them in the past and what plans we can put in place for the rest of 2024 and beyond.

I have a one-to-one with one of my team, which gives us a great chance to catch up on a project looking at growth opportunities for Ecclesiastical.

As a company, we are looking to double in size over the next few years, so being involved in this work is exciting. We are helping to shape the future direction of the company and exploring innovative product and proposition development ideas.

I have several more meetings before the drive home gives me more thinking time on the M4.

Friday

Friday is my first day of the week working from home. My calendar is pretty free of meetings, which gives me a good chance to catch up on emails and general work I have on the go.

I give our Pricing Remedy Attestation report a final proofread before sending it to the compliance team for their sense check.

This report brings together all of the controls we have in place to make sure we are meeting the requirements of the pricing remedy regulatory requirements. It gives assurance to our named individuals that they can attest positively to the Financial Conduct Authority.

Feeling on top of my emails, I can now turn my attention to next week. I have a number of key meetings coming up, plus some more interviews for my previous role.

One of these meetings, that I chair, occurs monthly and brings together a number of representatives to review and sign off some of our fair value assessments. This approach allows for SMEs from across the business to input in the assessment and to challenge any parts of it. It’s also a great way of ensuring visibility of these assessments across the business.

By the time it gets to 5pm, I’m glad that Friday evening has arrived. Our cat is also very happy that I’ll be stopping soon as she’s been lurking all day, wanting to jump up on my laptop.