The Intermediary – March 2025 - Flipbook - Page 70
In Profile.
Q&A
The Intermediary speaks with Katherine Carnegie, chief
commercial officer at LV=, about investing in the right
people and processes to create change in the market
F
rom growing up “dreaming of being an
accountant,” to becoming CCO with
more than 12 years under her belt at
LV=, Katherine Carnegie has “always
loved numbers, puzzles and problem
solving.” A year on from her appointment as
CCO, The Intermediary sat down with Carnegie to
discuss her experience running the firm’s wealth,
protection and later life business, rising through
the ranks in a male dominated industry, and plans
for the future.
Evolving over the years
During her time at LV=, seismic changes have
shaped the business and the industry.
Carnegie explains: “Technology has
changed almost every aspect of life
just in the time I’ve been here. It
has changed how we interact with
businesses, what we are enabled to do,
and what we expect from companies.
“Digitalisation has been instrumental
in enhancing our ability to provide an
excellent experience for both our members
and advisers, with a focus on providing
outstanding customer service. That means really
being there at those key moments for customers.”
This also ties in with the core mutual model,
and the values entrenched when LV= was
established in 1843. In the past decade, the firm
has introduced customer and adviser portals to
provide online routes to the business.
Carnegie says: “Our core purpose is to help
people to live financially confident lives. Over the
past 12 months while I’ve been CCO, I’m really
proud of how we’ve served those customers when
they really need us.”
She points to LV’s diverse proposition, from
protection to smoothed investments and equity
release, all of which has continued to progress
and develop. One of the biggest milestones has
been the launch of the LV= Platform Services
proposition, a retirement-focused platform
that advisers can use to help clients access the
firm’s Smoothed Managed Funds, designed to
manage volatility within their portfolios while
maintaining returns.
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The Intermediary | March 2025
Carnegie explains: “That’s a key milestone,
providing advisers with the tools they need to
build a stable and resilient investment strategy in
an ever-evolving regulatory environment.”
This proposition has room to grow, she adds,
considering the unexpected turns of the past
few years, and it has already started rising in
popularity, not least with regulatory reviews of
retirement advice focusing on advisers taking a
look at their “end-to-end client services.”
Recent challenges
For a business that prides itself on helping with
financial resilience, the past few years have
been quite the proving ground.
Carnegie says: “One of the key
challenges of recent times is the cost-ofliving crisis. We’ve seen the impact both
on customers and advisers.”
LV= has navigated this by ensuring
flexibility, such as implementing
payment breaks within the protection
space, allowing customers to flex rather
than cancel a policy.
Despite concerns that squeezed finances
KATHERINE might see people risk being under-insured,
CARNEGIE
flexibility and forbearance – alongside a Coviddriven realisation of the value of protection –
has seen a more positive trend than expected.
“People are recognising the importance of
financial confidence and resilience in their lives,”
Carnegie says.
She adds: “We’ve also continued to innovate
in order to help customers when they need it the
most. Another example is the launch of our range
of LV= Lifestyle products, offering additional
choice for customers considering equity release.
“They might be looking to equity release in order
to help themselves, or perhaps to help a loved
one get onto the housing ladder, for example. The
additional features within that range are designed
to provide greater flexibility.”
This, and the move to more holistic advice,
means that equity release is likely to naturally be
considered as part of the “wider financial health
picture.” This includes investments, pensions,
equity release, and fixed term annuities.
