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EC News (26 November 2020)

Round-up of the weekly news and developments from the global (re)insurance market with stories from Howden, Sompo International Holdings, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions and more. Howden boosts cyber offering with Safeonline acquisition Global insurance broker Howden has announced the agreement to acquire cyber and tech specialist broker and Lloyd’s coverholder Safeonline, subject to regulatory approval. The transaction brings a team of cyber insurance specialists to Howden’s cyber division which will add resource and expertise to the firm’s presence in the market. Chris Cotterell, CEO, Safeonline will join Howden as chairman of its Cyber division. Safeonline has a proprietary insurtech platform iQ, which comprises online quote & bind functionality that distributes to both the UK SME and international wholesale sectors. Howden states iQ also complements the company’s existing wholesale cyber client base and offers the capability to provide ‘on the ground’ cyber quote and bind capability throughout the Howden office network globally. Safeonline offers a range of product lines including cyber and tech, financial & professional lines, programmes & binders and contingency and is a member of the Brokerslink network. Charlie Langdale, managing director, Financial Lines says: “Cyber as a class has been growing strongly for us over recent years and this acquisition supercharges our growth in this important market. In a stroke, it gives us the ability to service retail SME clients and enlarge our US wholesale cyber book. It also means we can improve our service to large global retail accounts and grow further our Financial Lines retail capability. This enhanced offering builds on our centre of excellence in London under the management of David Rees that complements our Global Practice Group, run by Shay Simkin, and will help us deliver even more for our clients.” Cotterell, comments: “Having pioneered cyber insurance since 1999, I am delighted that the Safeonline team will be able to continue its growth and innovation in this sector. Becoming a part of Howden gives us the scale, resources and an international platform to allow us to take the business to the next level. We look forward to working with the Howden team to educate, protect and create solutions critical to businesses and individuals operating in this digital world.” Sompo Intl. names head of portfolio design, pricing & analytics for global insurance Bermuda-based, global specialty provider of property and casualty (re)insurance, Sompo International Holdings, Ltd., has announced the appointment of Paul Shedden as head of portfolio design, pricing and analytics for global insurance. Based out of London, Shedden will also join the Insurance Executive Leadership Team. In his new role, he will report to Chris Gallagher, CEO, Sompo International Commercial P&C. Shedden joins the business from AXA XL where he most recently served as head of enterprise data insurance pricing, advanced analytics and innovations. He brings over 25 years of industry experience to the role, adding a unique perspective to Sompo International’s process of portfolio design, technical pricing and performance management, where he will be supported by a diverse team of experts globally. Gallagher commented: “We are pleased to have Paul join Sompo International, bringing his vast experience in leading similar operations at some of the most well-respected global organizations. Paul has achieved great success in running talented and successful departments across multiple regions as well as implementing innovative solutions for growing and diverse portfolios. His proven track record, history of success and extensive global experience aligns perfectly with Sompo International’s strategic direction, and I am delighted to welcome him to our senior Insurance segment leadership team.” Shedden added: “I am excited to join Sompo International as the organization continues on its ascent to becoming one of the top global insurance carriers. Mr. Gallagher has a strong strategic vision for the company’s future, and I am looking forward to working alongside him and the exceptional global Insurance leadership team at Sompo International.” Swiss Re CorSo appoints Tina Baacke as global head risk engineering services Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, the commercial insurance arm of Swiss Re Group has appointed Tina Baacke as global head risk engineering services, effective 1 January 2021. In her new role, Baacke will be responsible for leading a global team of experts that provide risk knowledge, data insights, tools and services to help customers improve and maintain continuous business operations by identifying and managing their exposures. Based in Munich, Baacke will report to Kera McDonald, chief underwriting officer bespoke and she will succeed Martin Schürz, who will retire in February after almost 30 years with Swiss Re. Baacke brings more than two decades of insurance industry and consulting experience to the firm, most recently serving as global head of risk consulting at Allianz. She also brings extensive experience in catastrophe risk management and has built and managed large global teams in a variety of leadership roles in EMEA and APAC. McDonald commented: "We are thrilled to attract and welcome a talent like Tina to our team. She is a seasoned leader with a proven track record in helping customers develop and refine their approach to risk resiliency and risk management," "Risk Engineering Services is a critical part of our business as we continue to lead more corporate insurance programmes worldwide. I've no doubt that through Tina's leadership we will continue to differentiate our insurance offerings and provide loss prevention insights that give real value to our customers." Adding: "Martin has our best wishes for his retirement after a tremendously successful career. He has been instrumental in developing our risk engineering services practice by bringing in innovative, cutting-edge risk assessment tools, digital analytics and new customer service offerings. I'm proud to have worked with Martin and he will be greatly missed." BMS appoints Chris Madell as director of financial lines division Independent specialist (re)insurance broker BMS Group has named Chris Madell as director of its new financial lines division, effective immediately. Based in London, Madell will repot to Ian Gormley, managing director of the BMS Global Risks division. Madell has over 33 years of insurance industry experience in both the London and Australian markets. In his new role, he will be responsible for the build out of the financial lines capability for BMS, working closely with both the London headquarters and the Australian office. Prior to joining BMS, Madell served as CEO at Allstate Underwriting Agencies since 2017. Before that, he was head of distribution in the global broker unit of ACE Australia (now Chubb Insurance Australia). Gormley said: “BMS is continually looking to bring in high quality individuals like Chris. He has an excellent reputation and his international experience and management skill will be a great addition to BMS. Chris will be working closely with our overseas offices in Australia and Miami to complement their FI focus. Financial Lines and D&O are in a true hard market right now and having a proven specialist such as Chris with deep technical understanding will help our clients navigate in the current market.” Madell said: “I’m delighted to be joining BMS, an independent with an investment strategy that really piqued my interest. Financial Lines is in a state of dislocation, the likes of which I’ve never seen before. The team is investing in talented market professionals with a passionate appetite for client service excellence. We will be taking a thoughtful approach to certain industry sectors, utilising in-house expertise to deliver a very different partner experience.” AXA XL promotes Nicola Harris to head of energy, UK & Lloyd’s market AXA XL has announced the promotion of Nicola Harris to head of energy, UK and Lloyd’s market. Harris succeeds Peter Welton, who was promoted to chief underwriting officer for Marine, Energy & Aerospace, UK & Lloyd’s market earlier this year. In her new role, Harris will lead a team of underwriters in London and will be responsible for developing the UK energy book, implementing strategy, and designing innovative insurance solutions for AXA XL’s energy clients. Harris has held a number of senior energy roles within AXA XL since joining from Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) in 2018, most recently chief of staff, global energy. Since 2014, she had previously held the role of regional head of energy & marine at AGCS and prior to that, she held various roles at Marsh in London and then Cape Town, where she was appointed regional leader for power & energy in 2011. Peter Welton, chief underwriting officer for Marine, Energy & Aerospace, UK & Lloyd’s market, commented: “Global economic uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the global energy market, which was already facing several headwinds. Having the right team in place is an integral part of our commitment to our clients, as they manage the associated risks today and in the future. “I am delighted that Nicola will be taking on the role of Head of Energy, UK & Lloyd’s market. Nicola has more than 20 years’ experience in the Energy insurance sector, both on the broking and underwriting side, and I have every confidence that her high level of knowledge and experience gained throughout her career positions her ideally to lead the team.” Hamish Roberts appointed global renewable energy leader within Marsh JLT Specialty Leading (re)insurance broker Marsh, announced the appointment of Hamish Roberts as global renewable energy leader, Marsh JLT Specialty, effective 1 January 2021. Based in London, Roberts will report to Andrew George, global head, energy and power, Marsh JLT Specialty. In this newly created role, Roberts will develop the business’ renewable energy proposition and create new services and solutions that will support the fast-growing renewable energy industry globally, as well as enable traditional providers to continue their transition to renewable power sources. Roberts brings over 35 experience in insurance and risk management for the renewable energy industry. He was previously Power Leader, Marsh JLT Specialty, and served as CEO of Aon’s Global Power Specialty for six years, from 2008-2014. Andrew George said: “Over the last 12 months, Marsh has invested significantly in expanding our specialist capabilities and geographical reach to support our clients in renewable energy and power. Hamish is an outstanding leader who has dedicated his career to the development of insurance and risk solutions that support the global transition to renewable energy. Under his leadership, we are strongly placed to assist the sector as it adapts to the challenges and opportunities it faces.” Roberts added: “There is renewed political will as we approach the end of 2020 to move towards greater decarbonization and more sustainable energy sources. As traditional energy companies continue to decarbonize their footprints – and market challengers seek to redefine the energy landscape – Marsh JLT Specialty’s Global Renewable Energy team will play a key role in supporting our clients and communities as they transition towards more sustainable and carbon-neutral futures.”

Secrets of Success: Mark Thomas [Episode 1]

Secrets of Success is a series for recruiters, by recruiters. I’ll be chatting to some of the best talent #TeamEames has to offer and giving you a glimpse into the highs and lows of their recruitment careers, and their secret to success in this industry. In this first episode, I am joined by Mark Thomas- a Director in our UK team. Mark has specialised in Technology recruitment the entirety of his career so knows a thing or two about success through deep industry expertise. With a 12+ year career in the recruitment sector, Mark talks through climbing the ranks - to managing director - at his previous company (he joined as a grad). Mark is a very passionate business developer, and in this episode of Secrets of Success Mark shares some great advice for those looking to tighten their skillset when it comes to working with clients. 25 minutes well spent for any recruiter looking for a little inspiration from a very passionate technology recruiter. WATCH NOW:

Eames Insights: Frederic Weber at AXA Singapore

Eames Consulting Group has been working closely with senior actuarial professionals in Asia to get their perspective on the 2020 market, the future of the actuarial industry and how to get the most out of your career. We have put together a series of interviews with key actuaries from different cities and interesting insight into the market across the region. In this episode of Eames Insights, Actuarial sector specialist in Hong Kong, Luke Mattingly talks to AXA Singapore Chief Actuary, Frederic Weber. Can you see actuarial roles and subsequent duties changing over the coming years within insurance and if so why? Actuarial has been an everchanging profession as insurance has transformed tremendously across time. Actuaries have always managed to respond to these changes successfully, adapting their work to the evolution. For example, in the past actuaries used to develop contingency models for life insurance and motor insurance generalized linear models to differentiate drivers, risk factors, and now some actuaries have started to work on climate change risks and epidemiologic models, which are really topical in today’s world. Elon Musk recently called actuaries to join Tesla, showing good signs that the profession has a bright future as actuaries are directly associated with insurance. What I personally see in my own context is more and more tasks being automated and therefore more time freed leading to a shift towards more analysis, which is probably more interesting in its essence. Where do you see the GI Actuarial market heading within Asia (especially Singapore)? Will there be an increase in demand for professionals with this skillset? Asia is a patchwork of very different countries compared to Europe. It comprises countries of different sizes, different maturities, different regulations/regulators and different social environments. For example, some regulators impose nationals to be in-house appointed actuary whereas others will be more flexible and allow offshore consultants to take such roles. The Singapore market is open, competitive and technically mature. The demand for GI Actuaries continues to increase and to illustrate this, one example comes to my mind: the Singapore Actuarial Society organizes an actuarial career fair every year and I remember 5 to 10 years ago only a few companies had booths with hundreds of students, but last year there were 20 booths and I remember the vision of students being scarce in the middle of the very large hall. Singapore universities have increased the number of actuarial students for the past decade, but the efforts need to be continued. What are your views on data science being involved within actuarial teams? GI Actuaries have always been naturally dealing with data, sometimes with a lot of data. My own actuarial school asked us to code in various languages 20 years ago and this proved to be useful. Coding skills have become a must have and Asian countries have a lot of aspiring actuaries equipped with this skillset. I saw the actuarial schools in Singapore training their students accordingly and this is a very positive move. When data became the new hype 5 or 6 years ago, many insurance companies hired data scientists and later realized that actuaries have been doing something rather similar for decades (of course with the means and data quantity allowed at that time) with insurance expertise. Eventually, we saw some insurance companies merging these actuaries and data scientists for better synergy. What are your views on IFRS17 regulations and how is your organisation working towards this? If general insurance (my practice area) is less impacted than life insurance, there are still some important components to take into consideration such as cash-flow projections, profitability by inception periods and treatment of reinsurance, to name a few. This would require some improvements in what valuation actuaries normally do, and the most technically sophisticated teams should not experience major disruptions. Working on IFRS17 is a good opportunity for actuaries to understand better accounting topics and principles. Finally, understanding the “why” we change to the new standards and how it will impact the way insurance companies do business is essential. Throughout the market in Asia, we are seeing growing investment in moving products onto digital platforms. What are your views on the digitization of products and upcoming insurtechs throughout the region? Moving products onto digital platforms is not new, it started more than 10 years ago. We have seen insurance companies undertaking this journey with different operating models and levels of outsourcing (to Insurtechs for example), and eventually with more or less success. Digital transformation in insurance is not about the “if”, but more about the “how” as many aspects need to be considered: how receptive the market is (customers and distributors), how simple, competitive and scalable the product offer is and how it integrates with company’s operations and IT systems. It also depends on the “who” as insurance is an industry with a lot of specificities and recipes from retail, F&B or banking industries might not be replicated easily for insurance. For an aspiring junior actuary, do you have any advice for them as they grow in their career and what can they do to stand out? Passing actuarial exams is the typical first step for a junior actuary. It can be a rather onerous process as it takes up personal time for a couple of years while professional performance is also a requisite from the employer. However, becoming Fellow of an actuarial body is only the real start of a career as it unlocks some doors to the path of success. Public speaking and influencing skills, ability to clearly present your work to different audiences, getting exposure to the business and making an impact. These are some of the challenges young Fellows can be exposed to. My advice to aspiring junior actuaries would be to start developing these skills now – even before becoming a Fellow.

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EC News (26 November 2020)

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Team Eames

Secrets of Success: Mark Thomas [Episode 1]

EamesInsights

HomeNews

Eames Insights: Frederic Weber at AXA Singapore

FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN DRIVE YOUR RECRUITMENT CAREER FORWARD WITH TEAM EAMES

CONNECTING TALENT

Insurance

Financial Services

Technology

EC News

HomeNews

EC News (26 November 2020)

secrets of success

Team Eames

Secrets of Success: Mark Thomas [Episode 1]

EamesInsights

HomeNews

Eames Insights: Frederic Weber at AXA Singapore

​FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN DRIVE YOUR RECRUITMENT CAREER FORWARD WITH TEAM EAMES

FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN DRIVE YOUR RECRUITMENT CAREER FORWARD WITH TEAM EAMES