John Hockney has been appointed as the new President of the Insurance Institute of the Isle of Man.

Commenting on his election by members of the local institute at its AGM on the 10th April 2014, John said: “I am honoured and delighted to be appointed as the President  for the year 2014-15 and in addition to taking on this year's Presidency, some of you may be aware that I also act as Chairman of the local region of the Personal Finance Society (PFS).  I therefore hope to continue developing both professional bodies through a ‘joined-up-thinking’ approach, whilst recognising that each has unique and separate specialism, CPD requirements and regulatory overlay”

The AGM also saw a change of name for the local institute which was previously known as The Isle of Man Insurance & Financial Services Institute. It was felt that the new name will provide a clear distinction between the PFS and the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII).

The AGM also welcomed the new Council for 2014/15 with the following officer appointments:

Deputy President – Bryan O’Connor
Secretary – Christine Crowther
Treasurer – Ann Collins
Education Secretary – Richard Hulme
Member Secretary – James O’Connor
Charities Representative – Adrian Tinkler

The institute’s AGM was followed by a presentation by John Spellman, Director of Financial Services for the Isle of Man Government.

John spoke about the current strengths and weaknesses of the Isle of Man financial services sector. He advocated several changes to the way we do business particularly looking at where the Island is weak and trying to build on those sectors. He suggested “we innovate and try to lead rather than follow what was done in other jurisdictions -  to do this everyone must get involved, Government, regulators and businesses alike”

The talk was very positive and left those who attended feeling that there will be a very bright future for the Island.