Insurance Times rounds up conference reporting highlights this week from 22 to 26 June 2026
The past few weeks have been packed with industry events. Among the highlights reported on this week, content director Katie Scott shared her exclusive interview with Luke Baker, director for insurer Allianz Commercial’s UK global and specialty team, during the three-day Airmic Conference in Birmingham last week (15 to 17 June 2026).
Baker told Insurance Times that the “importance of having dovetail policy wording” to address potential protection gaps caused by today’s “increasingly fragmented” yet “more interconnected” risk environment is front of mind for both risk professionals and their risk transfer partners.
Attending the Financial Times Global Insurance Summit on 24 July, reporter Iris Hakaj shared Aviva group chief executive Amanda Blanc’s views on the number of political leadership changes she has seen since entering her role at the insurer.
Blanc urged policymakers to provide greater stability and consistency for businesses, warning that frequent political change can make long-term planning difficult for insurers and pension providers.
She continued: “This will be my fifth Prime Minister. It will be my sixth chancellor and it will be the ninth economic secretary to the Treasury. If you think about it from a business perspective, that’s actually quite hard.”
The talent crisis was also addressed at the Financial Times Global Insurance Summit. Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) chief executive Sheila Cameron rejected suggestions that the London insurance market has gone too far on diversity and inclusion, arguing that a strong culture will be critical to addressing a looming talent shortage.
Cameron said the market had made significant progress since the misconduct issues highlighted in 2019 and warned that fewer than 7% of the London market’s workforce could be under the age of 30 within a decade.
Meanwhile, reporter Harriet Scott attended Marsh’s biannual Rising Professionals’ Forum 2026 on 24 June in Blackfriars, London.
During her keynote session entitled ‘Leadership in Turbulent Times’, the broker’s UK chief executive Lisa Quest told delegates that shifting client expectations will create “tremendous opportunity” for those “entering the insurance profession”.
She said: “The future belongs to the organisations that move beyond simply providing insurance as a product and to the organisations that become the providers of insight, resilience and confidence.”
The Thursday afternoon of the Rising Professionals’ Forum 2026 on 25 June also proved to be a highlight, as Lloyd’s chief executive Patrick Tiernan spoke during a chief executive panel entitled ‘Shaping the Future of Insurance’.
Notably, Tiernan opened up about the pressures of leading a global insurance business, describing the time he received criticism from the USA’s political leadership over shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
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