The Value of Membership: Creating the Win!

June 2024

At LIMRA and LOMA, we have a long history of serving the life insurance and broader financial services industry. LIMRA was founded in 1916 and LOMA shortly after in 1924, together representing more than two centuries of supporting our members. We work with more than 700 member companies in 71 countries worldwide, helping them understand industry trends, informing their strategies, developing their talent and creating solutions that advance the industry. But that’s not all we do. We are the center point for the industry, bringing together professionals from different functional areas, helping them make valuable connections, exposing them to new opportunities and helping them find the right pathways to overcome challenges. If we do our job well, everybody wins.

The heart of our mission today is as it was from the start — to provide our members with the knowledge, insights, connections and solutions to determine the most effective strategies for success.

However, the context in which we live that mission has certainly changed over time. Today, transformation in the financial services sector is occurring at a rapidly accelerating rate and in ways we could not have even imagined 10 or 20 years ago. In a recent report, LIMRA and PwC identified five generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) trends likely to play a key role in the insurance industry this year — noting “GenAI investment will expand from enabling and supporting existing functions to completely reimagining the entire insurance value chain.”

Leaders are well aware of the forces at work, the impending transformation and the exciting opportunities they can bring. In one view, LIMRA and BCG research uncovers shifting priorities among life insurance executives around the world. As they navigate what they perceive to be the most pressing challenges of the day, these leaders have pivoted their primary focus from change management (in 2019) to technology (in 2021) to growth (in 2023).

Just as individual member companies are responding to forces driving transformation, we are evolving, as well, to ensure we keep pace with the new landscape. If we think about the transformation that the industry is going through, we also have to really think about growth in new and different ways. In strategically expanding our membership base through inclusion — by opening up membership opportunities by invitation to different types of industry stakeholders — we are extending mutual benefits to all members in an intentional and impactful way. While we were initially founded to serve insurance carriers, the scope of our organization today also incorporates IMOs and BGAs, broker-dealers, asset management firms, banks, technology firms, BPOs, consultancies and others.

Core to our purpose of supporting the advancement of the industry is strategically diversifying our membership — to accurately represent and connect its many stakeholders.

This expansion of membership provides a powerful form of reciprocal value, in which new constituents benefit from the resources we provide, and existing members also gain new access to fresh thought leadership and perspectives. In this context, truly “everybody wins” because the depth and breadth of shared conversations, connections and solutions increase for all. The needs and insights of one type of member, in turn, inform the perspective of another.

It seems to be working too. Each year, we measure our progress based on our net promotor score (NPS). As we look at our NPS over the last four years, we take pride in knowing that our score has improved from 34 in 2020 to 49 in 2023, which is in the middle of the “great” category.

We also received some very positive comments in the open-ended question section. Here is a sample of what members told us:

“… Our ‘go-to’ resource for industry insights and opportunity to network with our peers …”

“Breadth and depth of resources, information and expertise are unmatched in our industry.”

“Participation is critical to stay relevant.”

LIMRA and LOMA members renew their membership annually because of the value they get from the Association — actionable insights from our benchmarks and research that help companies with their strategic direction; solutions that support the broader industry like fraud prevention, training and professional development for field and home office personnel; and, of course, the ability to network with peers through our 100 committees, conferences and collaboration groups.

Thank you for being a member of LIMRA and LOMA. We are committed to helping you navigate this fast-changing world and look forward to serving the industry for the next 100 years.