Firms risk pushing out investment in learning by focusing purely on exams set by regulatory bodies, according to Bruce Carnegie-Brown, Marsh's chief executive and president, Europe and Middle East, and president of the Institute of Financial Services.
In his presentation at the Institute's City of London Chapter, Carnegie-Brown also argued that minimum standards, basic skills and regulatory requirements were aspects of learning and qualifications that should be regarded as "business processes", which do not deliver competitive advantage.
Instead, Carnegie-Brown said that in the business world, value-added learning needed to be about creating the ability to adapt and to change.
He said firms needed to be able to constantly re-invent themselves to survive and prosper; to keep their customers; to grow market share; and to deliver expected value to shareholders.
The employee, he argued, could be expected to take on responsibility for their own education in the areas of regulation and compliance, freeing up the employer's resources to create collaborative learning programmes across the enterprise.
