The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) will hold its sixth Shaping the Future of Insurance Conference on Thursday, 1 October 2026, in the City of London. The context surrounding it has shifted considerably since last year's event.
The theme is Navigating Future Risk. It is a deliberate move away from the opportunity framing of 2025's "Innovation and Impact". It also arrives at a moment when the profession is managing compounding pressure from multiple directions at once.
The CII expects more than 600 attendees, following what it described as a sold-out event in 2025.
The most significant regulatory development affecting professional development in the UK insurance market is one that has received less attention than it deserves.
In December 2025, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) removed the mandatory 15-hour annual continuing professional development (CPD) requirement for insurance firms. This gives firms flexibility to determine their own competency training standards, per FCA Policy Statement PS25/21.
The eight core knowledge areas that previously applied to insurance distribution became guidance rather than rules. Firms must still ensure staff are competent under SYSC 28 of the FCA Handbook, but without a prescribed hourly benchmark.
Firms must still demonstrate competence under Consumer Duty. The FCA's own assessment found the 15-hour minimum was frequently treated as a tick-box exercise, with little evaluation of whether learning addressed real risks or improved performance. The regulator has not relaxed the standard – it has raised it, by requiring firms to prove outcomes rather than hours.
Firms are now placing greater weight on structured qualifications to demonstrate competence under Consumer Duty, according to reporting on the CII's structural changes in 2026. That dynamic makes events like the October conference a more considered choice – not a CPD top-up, but a deliberate investment in professional readiness against a backdrop of outcomes-based regulatory scrutiny.
The eighth edition of the GILC Risk Radar report, published June 2026, identifies AI, regulatory pressure, and climate losses as the biggest issues facing the global market. It draws on insights from member firms across 28 jurisdictions and five continents.
Compliance requirements, climate-related claims, and technology risks are converging into a more demanding operating environment. Pressure is arriving on multiple fronts at the same time.
That convergence is reflected directly in the conference program. Sessions will cover the four risk categories reshaping underwriting appetite and broking strategy across the UK in 2026:
Talent attraction and retention has risen from seventh place to become the top business challenge for UK insurers. Seventy-two per cent of UK respondents reporting greater difficulty finding qualified candidates, according to Gallagher Bassett's Carrier Perspective report.
Around one in four insurance employees is over 50, more than 70% of insurers report shortages in data and digital skills, and only 4% of young people see insurance as a viable career option, according to CII research.
Against that backdrop, structured professional development carries commercial weight extending well beyond CPD compliance.
The event is open to members and non-members across broking, underwriting, claims, compliance, and emerging talent. It delivers structured access to market intelligence and peer exchange at a moment when demonstrating competence is a matter of regulatory scrutiny, not just professional preference.
Adam Harper, Director of Strategy, Advocacy and Professional Standards at the CII, said the sector had a responsibility to help businesses and communities manage a more complex risk environment. "This year's conference will provide members and non-members the opportunity to examine emerging challenges, consider new perspectives, and leave with practical ideas they can put into action," he said.
The shift in the profession's approach to skills development is visible across multiple fronts. The CII reported a 15% increase in insurance qualification completions in 2024. Exam activity hit a decade high earlier this year.
Registrations are expected to open by the end of June. Programme details are available on the CII's conference page.
