Supporting vulnerable customers in the insurance industry

Paul Lamont

Product Director, Experian

Paul is a Product Director at Experian and heads up Support Hub, a new and innovative product that allows consumers to set up and share their support needs across multiple organisations.

He has over 10 years’ experience working in consumer financial services across Europe and Africa. Before Experian, Paul worked as a digital product strategist for two large private equity funds focused on African financial services.

He was also one of the founding team members of a consumer retail credit lender in East Africa. Paul is a ACMA management accountant and holds a Bachelor’s in Business Science (Finance Hons) and MBA from the University of Cape Town.

Johnny Timpson

Financial Inclusion and Resilience Champion

Johnny Timpson OBE has extensive insurance and banking sector senior leadership plus academic, professional and trade body experience. An independent Consultant he is additionally Chair of specialist military insurance brokerage Absolute Military and cross sector vulnerability tech Morgan Ash plus the Building Resilient Households Group think-tank. A Financial Inclusion Commissioner, Johnny is additionally Patron of the Vocational Rehabilitation Association UK and member of the Financial Services Consumer Panel, the BIBA Access To Insurance Committee, the National Independent Consumer Organisation Financial Protection Panel and Hargreaves Lansdown Savings & Resilience Barometer Sounding Board..

Johnny sits on the Insurance Institute of London DE&I Committee and has ambassador roles with the Surviving Economic Abuse Charity, the Women In Protection Network and Age Irrelevance. A Trustee of the Caudwell Children’s disability charity, he also holds advisory roles with the Protection Distributors Group and Income Protection Taskforce.

Having lived experience of disability, Johnny is a founding and current board member of GAIN ( the Group for Autism, Insurance, Investment and Neurodiversity) plus a former DWP and Cabinet Office Disability Access Ambassador and member of the Prime Ministers Champion Group for Dementia Communities where he worked with the Internation Longevity Centre “Living Well With Dementia” project. He also held advisory roles with the University of Edinburgh Business School “ Supporting Health Ageing at Work (SHAW) programme and University of Bristol “Financial Wellbeing Of Disabled People In The UK”.

Alison Rayner

Chief Compliance & Corporate Affairs Officer, Allianz Holdings plc

Alison has worked in the financial services industry for over 30 years, and started her career in customer facing roles. She spent 4 years at PWC in regulatory consulting, before joining Direct Line Group in 2002 to set up the Compliance function ahead of General Insurance regulation. Similar roles followed at Royal Sun Alliance Group, BGL Group/Comparethemarket, and Aviva. Alison joined the Allianz UK Executive team as Chief Compliance & Corporate Affairs Officer in 2023.

Alison has extensive experience of UK regulation, coupled with a passion for ensuring customers get good outcomes. Alison is Chair of the ABI Conduct & Regulation Committee and is a member of the board of the Motor Insurers Bureau.

Outside of work Alison is Secretary of her local kids football club.

Mandy Hunt

Managing Director of MGA

Mandy leads the MGA business. She joined Clear with the opportunity to build a team and create a business we can be proud of. Alongside her role, Mandy volunteers for the Stroke Association, mentors The Girls Network and chairs the CII’s Underwriting Community Board. A walk by the sea never fails to lift her spirits.

Rachael Gagan

Vulnerable Customer Strategy Manager, Axa Insurance

I am an enthusiastic and highly experienced financial services professional with deep expertise in vulnerable customer strategy and a strong track record of leading customer-centric initiatives.  I bring significant experience across financial services and, more recently, insurance.

My core strengths lie in strategic planning, customer experience, complaints management, and regulatory implementation—including FG21/1 (vulnerable customer guidance) and the Consumer Duty. I have led end-to-end customer journey mapping, delivered successful change initiatives, and conducted comprehensive impact assessments in response to evolving regulatory demands.

I am passionate about ensuring fair outcomes for all customers, with a focus on embedding sustainable, inclusive practices that support those in vulnerable circumstances.

Chris Fitch

Vulnerability Lead, Money Advice Trust

Dr Christopher Fitch is Vulnerability Lead at the Money Advice Trust and a Research Fellow at the Personal Finance Research Centre (University of Bristol).   He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health and has a PhD from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience at King's College London.

Since 2007, Chris has led a programme of award-winning guidance, research, training, and intervention on vulnerability. This programme has involved improving practice in more than 350 firms, over 35,000 staff, and across the financial and essential service sectors. Chris has also co-created industry-wide tools for working with vulnerable customers such as TEXAS, IDEA, and BRUCE, as well as co-founding award-winning Vulnerability Academies with UK Finance (for firms) and the UK Regulators' Network (for regulators). 

Previously Chris was a Research Fellow and Head of Policy at the Royal College of Psychiatrists where he led research programmes and national mental health policy development, and prior to this, a Researcher at Imperial College Medical School where he worked on international WHO and United Nations research studies and public health projects in the areas of drug injecting, sex work, and HIV and STD prevention.