Insurance news

Read more: BAE Systems global director on the five trends shaping the evolution of insurance fraud

So, in keeping with that old adage about honey and vinegar, Harris first addressed what insurance businesses tend to do well in this area.

“Data sharing is a key aspect,” he said, “and insurance has got so much to teach the rest of financial services. They’re lightyears ahead of banking – if you look at banking, for example, we talk to banks, and they can’t even share information between their own branches in different countries. So, insurance has really blazed the trail when it comes to data sharing.”

This is particularly relevant considering the rising attention being paid to a public-private partnership solution to fight financial crime, he said. The reality is that an individual insurer is never going to be able to solve this issue in a silo, but rather just put a sticking-plaster on the problem. The only way to truly offset widescale financial crime is by establishing an accessible and sizeable pool of data and centralising it to the benefit of the wider profession.

“When it comes to pricing, I think insurers offer very good value,” he said. “And they’ve got fantastic processes in place for understanding what their risks are, and for balancing premiums against their expected payouts. It’s a very stable industry and you don’t see too many insurers going under, so I think it’s really well-managed from that perspective.”

An area that is more of a mixed bag for the sector is the challenge of compliance, which is an area in which BAE Systems handles a variety of clients. Whether it’s to do with money-laundering, KYC or watchlists for terrorist funding, insurers tend to do an OK job, he said, but this is going to be an area where they will soon be feeling a lot more pressure. That pressure, in turn, will inevitably fall on the brokers as well, as due diligence around the customer onboarding process will be emphasised – not just from a fraud perspective, which implies loss, but also from a compliance perspective.

“So we’ve got a number of customers on the compliance side, and I think that’s going to escalate and potentially move into the broker market as well,” he said. “That’s mainly on the life side, for now, because that’s where you have the biggest premiums, and the biggest potential payouts. It’s less on the P&C side, but we do have a number of our life insurers asking us more about putting some checks in place to make sure that they are meeting the regulations around financial crime compliance as a whole.”

Read more: What are the new insurance fraud trends to be aware of?

Where insurers tend to be quite poor is when it comes to offering additional services to their customers, Harris said, as all too often it’s the case that they sign up a customer and then don’t contact them again until renewal time. Insurers are making inroads with this, but there’s still a lot more they can do – especially when their customer interaction is compared to other industries, such as the banking sector.

“Their knowledge of their customer on the back of that tends to be really poor,” he said. “They have so little information about their customer where various other financial institutions are always trying to engage and interact with their customers in order to learn more about that customer behaviour. That’s so important for fraud because you can only identify the bad guys, if you know what a good guy looks like. When you know what a good profile is, you can spot the outliers. And that’s not just from a fraud perspective, but also from a risk-analysis, and cost-analysis, and an underwriting perspective as well.”

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Moody, who is based in London, will report to Dean Klisura, president, Guy Carpenter and assume responsibility for Guy Carpenter’s UK property and casualty business. Moody has held his current position of CEO, Marsh Specialty, UK & Ireland since 2018 and, during his 22-year tenure with Marsh, has developed and led several successful strategic growth initiatives in the UK financial lines and specialty divisions.

Meanwhile, Dominic Samengo-Turner (pictured below) has been appointed CEO, Marsh Specialty, UK & Ireland, effective September 01, subject to regulatory approval.

Samengo-Turner will be based in London and report to Chris Lay, CEO, Marsh, UK & Ireland, and Lucy Clarke, president of Marsh Specialty and Global Placement. He is currently the global head of facultative reinsurance at Guy Carpenter, having previously served as head of Marsh Specialty, Asia, following Marsh’s acquisition of JLT. With over 35 years’ experience in global and specialty markets, Samengo-Turner is an industry veteran who also spent 23 years at Willis Towers Watson in several leadership roles before joining JLT in 2015.

Toby Wemyss has been appointed global head of facultative reinsurance, Guy Carpenter.

Reporting to Moody, Wemyss is expected to join in the fourth quarter of 2021 and will be based in London. He joins Guy Carpenter from Willis Towers Watson, where he had served as global head of facultative for the previous four years. Wemyss also previously held the role of regional CEO of Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa and CEO of global markets, international for Willis Towers Watson.

Commenting on the senior leadership shakeup, Klisura said the company was delighted that Moody and Wemyss are joining. He noted that both have extensive track records in leading successful teams, focused on delivering client-focused solutions.

“In these key leadership positions, their experience and market insight will be invaluable to Guy Carpenter’s continued growth,” he said. “I would also like to thank Dominic for his service and wish him every success at Marsh.”

Clarke added that Samengo-Turner is an “exceptional leader” who will bring his extensive experience in the global specialty markets to Marsh Specialty. Under his guidance, she said, the business will continue to pursue transformational solutions for its clients in a challenging market.

“These changes reflect the deep bench of talent we have available across Marsh McLennan and our ability to place strong leaders from within as well as attract industry-leading talent to the firm,” she said. “On behalf of all of us, I would like to thank Paul for his outstanding contribution to Marsh Specialty, and wish him every success in his new role at Guy Carpenter.”

Meanwhile, Lay added: “I am looking forward to working with Dominic to bring the deep specialty capabilities that make us well-positioned to address the future risks our clients face. Dominic’s experience will be invaluable as we develop the solutions that enable us to meet our clients’ ever-changing needs and unlock their growth possibilities. I would like to thank Paul for his leadership at Marsh, and welcome our continued collaboration in his new role.”

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Over the coming months Blanc will work closely with current CII president and CEO of Aon UK Ltd, Julie Page, before taking over as president and chair of the President’s Forum on January 01, 2022. The CII President’s Forum was created earlier in 2021 to explore new and emerging risks and how the insurance profession can address unmet consumer needs.

Commenting on the news, Blanc said: “The pandemic has shone a light on how important it is to have insurance solutions that can keep businesses going, so I look forward to becoming president of the CII in 2022 and continuing the professional body’s amazing work to examine ways to close the gap between what consumers expect insurance services to entail and the reality.

“As a profession it is vital that we get to grips with the cause of the expectation gap and how to better educate consumers around coverage. Having cover in place is essential if our customers are to do and achieve more in the years to come.”

In additional news from the CII’s AGM today, Russell Higginbotham was appointed to the role of deputy president. Higginbotham was appointed as Swiss Re’s CEO Reinsurance Asia and regional president Asia on July 08, 2019 and, from his Singapore base, oversees over 2,000 staff across 11 Asian cities. 

 Sian Fisher, CEO of the Chartered Insurance Institute, noted: “I would like to thank Julie for her excellent, continuing work as president during these challenging times and for her focus on establishing the President’s Forum and ways our profession can address unmet needs.

“I look forward to working closely with Peter as our new president in 2022 and look forward to working with him on how our profession can adapt, evolve and innovate our products and services in order to maintain the importance and relevance of insurance to the customers it serves.”

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AXA is combining its businesses in Asia and Africa, with AXA Asia chief executive Gordon Watson (pictured) taking on an expanded remit.

Previously, the AXA Asia business included the markets of Hong Kong, mainland China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. This will now expand to include the African and Middle East markets of Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, Lebanon, Morocco, Nigeria and Senegal. Additional Asian markets, namely India, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam, will also be added under the umbrella, which will be known as AXA Asia & Africa.

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Peak Reinsurance Company AG, has appointed Karlheinz Render (pictured) as senior vice president, Europe, effective August 01.

According to a statement from the European subsidiary of Hong Kong-based reinsurer Peak Re, it hired Render to develop its market position in Europe, namely in the property & casualty markets of the DACH region (Austria, Germany and Switzerland).

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In 2020, MetLife became the first US insurer to sign the United Nations Women’s Empowerment Principles, which have guided the company’s strategies to close gender gaps in the areas of leadership, workplace, marketplace and community. As of the end of 2020, women represented 52% of MetLife’s workforce, 33% of its board of directors, 30% of its executive group, and 42% of its managers.

“As a global insurer and purpose-driven company, we strive to create a more confident and sustainable future for all of our stakeholders,” said Michel Khalaf, president and CEO of MetLife. “Building on our 153-year legacy of creating financial security, we are strengthening our commitments to the environment and climate, equity and inclusivity, health and wellbeing, and economic growth for disadvantaged communities.”

The report also covers the company’s efforts to create positive change in the more than 40 markets where it operates. Highlights from 2020 include:

• Through premium credits and contributions, MetLife and MetLife Foundation gave more than $250 million in relief to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19.
• MetLife and MetLife Investment Management invested more than $659.6 billion in total assets under management for policyholders and clients.
• MetLife Foundation committed an additional $5 million over three years to promote Black educational and career opportunities, Black business ownership, and racial justice initiatives, supplementing the existing $10 million in annual contributions to support racial equity and diverse communities.
• The company also launched EXCELERATE, a talent stewardship program aimed at accelerating midlevel Black and Latino employees into officer-level roles.
• As part of 11 new environmental goals, the company committed to reducing location-based greenhouse gas emissions by an additional 30% between 2019 and 2030 and originating $20 billion in new green investments by 2030.
• MetLife’s operations have been carbon-neutral since 2016 and its green investments currently exceed $28.7 billion.
• The company launched a sustainable financing framework to further align its investment and business priorities and issued a $750 million green funding agreement, which secured the US insurance sector’s first green funding agreement-backed note.

“We believe sustainability must be central to our business strategy and a guiding force behind every aspect of our operations,” said Jon Richter, chief sustainability officer at MetLife. “The full scope of our people, products and services, investments, and community efforts help us serve as a force for good in the world.”

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Bristol-headquartered Castlemead Insurance Brokers Ltd has joined Brokerbility.

“We are delighted to welcome Castlemead to our exclusive group,” said Brokerbility managing director Ian Stutz (pictured). “Them joining continues our clear vision and commitment to supporting independent broking in the UK insurance market.”

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After over three decades with Allianz, Holger Schaefer is making the switch to international insurance broker Howden.

Coming onboard in September, Schaefer will serve as Howden’s chief executive in Germany. His imminent arrival follows recent CEO appointments for Switzerland and Europe. It will also mark Schaefer’s return to his home country, after previously working in Hong Kong, Australia, the US, and the UK.

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According to LV=GI, the two firms were chosen because of their customer-centric approach and values which are aligned with those of the Allianz-owned personal lines insurer. Both are also whiplash reforms-compliant.

Commenting on the tie-up, Minster Law chief executive Shirley Woolham said: “We are delighted and thrilled to be working with such a respected brand as LV=GI. While we provide legal services as a very proud law firm, we are organised as a digital customer service business.

“Having rethought our business through a digital lens, we have achieved the critical balance of technology and human interaction to drive optimal claims processing cost, scalability of service, and excellent customer satisfaction. Delivering against the exacting brand and services standards that our insurer partners rightly expect is essential, and I’m confident that our digital and customer authenticity will transform the end-to-end claims experience for LV=GI customers.”

Lyons Davidson’s camp, meanwhile, is happy to have extended its existing partnership with LV=GI.

“I’m delighted that LV=GI has chosen to renew our relationship for the next five years,” asserted managing director Mark Savill, “and we’ve worked hard to ensure we understand the brand, culture, and values. We strive to provide a high level of customer service and are proud to have delivered a fully interactive online journey for LV=GI customers across a number of products.

“We’ve already had a high level of usage for our online portal by LV=GI customers and great feedback, which has helped us deliver a service that’s fit and ready for the injury reforms and the new OIC (Official Injury Claim) portal.”

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These opportunities have been coming thick and fast for the group, as it recently hit the £41 million GWP mark and is well on track to reach its target of £100 million GWP in five years. This is from a complete standing start, he said, with no debt and no outside investment, and is the result of year-on-year profit from its inception and, while balancing growth with remaining profitable has been no easy feat, it has been a rewarding journey.

“We’ve seen quite a few brokers come and go,” he said. “And we’ve seen a lot of brokers with a lot of financial backing behind them who seem to grow rapidly, and then just make millions upon millions of losses, for a good number of years. For us, our model is completely different, our model is of sustainable growth. And obviously what comes first is profitability, but I think sometimes when you look after profitability and you run a business well, growth naturally comes anyway.”

Rigby started his career in insurance when he left school to work for a local high-street broker which provided him with a solid grounding as his role in the branch allowed him to try his hand at every part of operating the business. After a few years, he moved on to Hill House Hammond before joining Autonet and then setting up a new broker for someone else. After two years of doing that, he decided to use his expertise to create his own business and went into partnership with Paul Dunn to create iRevolution, which has just completed its seventh year of trading.

A few core staples underpin the ethos of the group, Rigby said, including its focus on specific non-standard lines, especially non-standard motor, but also its embracing of marketing and technology. From its inception, the business has been very marketing-led in terms of channelling growth and it has made heavy investments in technology that have particularly paid off during the COVID crisis.

Read more: What’s the key to being successful in insurance broking?

“While we saw a lot of people declining during COVID, we saw a lot of opportunity in it, and it created a lot of opportunity for us,” he said. “We were very well-drilled and well-planned for COVID because we had a senior meeting in January before the first lockdown happened to discuss what was happening.

“We saw it coming from a long way off, so we planned for it and built it into our continuity plans. And because we had embraced technology early on it was quite easy for us to push people into working from home so, when everything actually happened, it was seamless for us and we had people working from home within a day. And because of that, it enabled us to stay quiet, calm and focused.”

This, in turn, has allowed iRevolution to take advantage of new growth sectors and to build on areas in which it already had a solid standing, including courier services and fast-food delivery which both grew rapidly during COVID. For other product lines, it was about stabilising them rather than actively pursuing growth and balancing these two strands allowed the business to stay calm, focus on growth and spot opportunities as and when they arose.

One such opportunity was the recent purchase of a new £1 million headquarters for the group, which will house its Insurance Revolution staff in the heart of Manchester’s Castlefield. It was at least partially due to COVID that the business managed to buy the building, which was initially on the market for £1.6 million.

“I think under normal market circumstances, we wouldn’t have got it for the price we got it for,” he said. “But we were able to move when nobody else seemed able to move and we’ve continued to recruit for the whole of last year when a lot of other people weren’t doing that. And that actually enabled us to bring in some really good people as well, because no-one else was really recruiting.”

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