With the sale of IOMA’s trust business in 2013 and the management buyout of its fund investment management arm in 2015, the multi-faceted Isle of Man-based insurer has changed considerably since Kenning joined six years ago.
With a key focus on technology, the company is showing no indication of slowing down.
IOMA seems to have a different structure from traditional life companies. What do you offer and what are your core markets?
We are very much a boutique. Our core business is offering niche, bespoke insurance and wealth management solutions to
midmarket professional intermediaries and institutional clients. We have four areas of specialism: life, pension, general and captive insurance.
The buyout of the fund management arm was very amicable. It allowed us to refocus on our core business and made us much more targeted in terms of our distribution.
"We very much see transparency disclosure as a benefit, not an enemy."
During the past couple of years, we have redefined where our markets are, who our clients are and where we can provide the best value. When it comes to premium volumes, we are growing at about 30% a year and in terms of fee increases we’re growing at around 25%.
Rather than being a product-led proposition, IOMA is customer-led. We spend a lot of time with IFAs, developing ideas and products in partnership, rather than just saying, “This is our product, can you sell it to your clients?”
We have brought in actuaries, lawyers and accountants so that we can provide robust products and do things properly.
Our existing client base is predominately in the UK. We can build pretty much any product for the UK market. We also have some historical business that has been written in Scandinavia, South Africa and the US.
Through your Isle of Man composite licence, IOMA can offer life and general insurance. Does that make you unusual as a life company?
I think we have the only composite licence on the Isle of Man. I do not think very many other insurance companies can provide the whole range of services and products we do, apart from very large insurers, but they don’t really want to spend their time working with the mid-market.
The benefit of the Isle of Man is that most models are quite different, meaning there is a variety of businesses and a very healthy level of competition.
The regulator has done a good job of pulling the industry together. The Isle of Man is a changing market and, given the current environment around Brexit, not being in the European Union could be a huge benefit or a huge negative. It will be fascinating to see which way it goes.
The island seems to be at the forefront of regulatory change. You will benefit if you are going with the grain of public opinion and regulatory developments. But time is up if you are going against them.
