Hardwiring Insurance into National Resilience
Good evening everyone.
Before you get your hopes up, I can’t sing. But weren’t the choir amazing.
Thank you also to our speakers - Richard Horne, Ken Norgrove and Andy Briggs.
And the ABI team and our sponsors KPMG - tonight is a magnificent achievement.
Insurance is not just a product. It’s a promise.
A promise that protects every home, every journey, every business and every future.
Tonight, I stand before you, 200 leaders who represent the beating heart of this most vital industry.
You are the CEOs, the actuaries, underwriters, investors and legal minds who have built an industry that protects, empowers and enables society to thrive.
40 Years of Impact
Forty years ago, you founded the ABI to unite our industry, to speak with one voice, to drive change, and serve the public good.
What a journey it has been. We’ve stood shoulder to shoulder through crises, floods and fires. Together, we’ve adapted to new technologies, emerging risks, and rising expectations.
Through it all, we’ve kept our promise to society
Insurance as a Catalyst for National Resilience
But to go further, we must keep challenging what holds us back.
Last year, I spoke1 about the Gordian Knot – the tangled web of regulation that constrains our industry’s ability to serve society as fully as we could.
I called on government to take up Alexander the Great’s sword and cut through it.
Government listened. Its commitment to reduce the cost of regulation by 25% by the end of this Parliament is bold and welcome. But ambition must be matched by action.
We have measured the cost of compliance across the UK insurance sector: At least £4.8 billion every year. That is the price of regulation today.
If government hits its target, £1.2 billion would be released by 2029. That is the scale of opportunity waiting to be grasped.
But this isn’t about deregulation. It’s about smart regulation – rules that protect consumers, enable innovation, and unlock investment.
Because we are more than a regulated industry. We are a partner in building Britain’s resilience. We help households weather economic shocks. Support small businesses against cyber attacks.
And we invest. In 2024 alone, ABI members invested nearly £11 billion in UK infrastructure.
Many of you here tonight are signatories to the Mansion House Accord, the Compact, and Sterling 20 - committed to investing domestic capital in domestic assets.
But unlocking further potential requires more than capital. It demands stable rules, clear expectations, and a regulatory environment that rewards long-term financial commitments.
Nikhil Rathi, our guest this evening, recently gave a speech where he called for finance to be hard-wired into national security. I could not agree more.
I joined the Treasury in 2005 to build the resilience of the UK financial sector. One month later, the tragic events of 7/7 unfolded.
I found myself working side by side with COBR on the response.
In 2008, Nikhil and I were together in the trenches of the Treasury, during the global financial crisis.
I answered the calls and pleas of those who had lost everything. Awful tales I will never forget.
We know what a crisis looks like - so we know what resilience really means.
Let me spell out three reasons why insurance must be hardwired into national security to make this country more resilient.
First, risk is our business. Our profession. Compared to the insurance industry, everyone else is an amateur.
We spot the storm before clouds gather. Cyber threats. Climate shocks. Supply chain disruption. You name it.
Hardwiring insurance into resilience means turning foresight into action. So risks are predicted. Resilience, underwritten.
Second, we understand how government choices can expose consumers and companies to more risk.
There are dozens of examples: building safety standards, housing and planning reforms, and changes to our pensions.
Involve insurers from the start, and together we’ll design smarter solutions. Solutions that manage risk, not just move it around.
That is how we protect people and prosperity. It’s called resilience by design.
Third, we invest in the future.
We don’t just pay claims – we power progress. Protecting pensions, backing innovation, and investing billions in Britain’s long-term growth. Hardwiring insurance into resilience means unlocking our capital to build a stronger, safer economy.
So tonight, I’m calling for more than collaboration. Embed insurers at the heart of national resilience planning.
Bring us in at the start – when policy is shaped, not after the decision’s been made. Build insurance expertise into every major policy decision from day one, so risk can be managed before it becomes crisis.
Resilience means having policy made with firm foundations - we must build on rock, not sand.
Pride in Our Purpose
I am proud to have been your ambassador for three years. In that time we have delivered.
Hundreds of high-risk buildings have secured insurance. Motor premiums have come down2. More small businesses are protected against cyber threats.
Millions are now paying their pension some attention. And billions have been invested - across the UK. These are more than numbers on a page. This is resilience in action.
Partnership in Action
Sometimes building resilience takes us to unexpected places.
To the Port of Dover at dawn - to recover stolen vehicles before they disappear across the Channel.
I’m delighted that Commander Nik Adams of City of London Police is here with us tonight. Together, we’re disrupting fraud networks, crash for cash scams and the organised criminal gangs behind them.
They say insurance fraud is a victimless crime. But in truth, it’s every honest policyholder who pays the price.
And our partnerships don’t stop at the UK’s borders. We’ve deepened collaboration from Bermuda to Brazil. Because resilience is global.
And leadership means reaching beyond our own horizon. When we collaborate across sectors, borders, and disciplines, we find new ways to serve the public good. That’s what this industry does best.
We look outward. We step forward. We stand for something greater.
Looking Ahead
Today Britain feels uncertain. It is uncertain of its role and its finances. It focuses on today not tomorrow. This is reflected in our markets and, frankly, our national morale.
We need to raise our eyes and our ambitions. As a country. As an industry. As citizens shaping Britain’s future.
We must cut policy from whole cloth, not from a patchwork of conflicting priorities.
We must plan for the future, not just focus on balancing our books.
This industry doesn’t think in months. It plans in decades - thinks in lifetimes. It is a long-term force for good.
Look at what we do.
We build roads, railways and reservoirs. A hundred years of infrastructure. We protect livelihoods and pension pots. A lifetime of security.
We invest - from start-up to scale-up. A future of prosperity.
Imagine what Britain would be like with flowing investment, resilient infrastructure, secure pensions and confident communities.
We must be the ones who cut that policy and shape that future. Because hope doesn’t build-in resilience. We do.