In November 2015 Cigna released its Global Mobility Trends Survey, updating the 2013 edition. The survey, conducted between April and June 2015, included 2700 expatriate respondents on assignment in 156 countries. Key findings: Global mobility appears to be evolving into a career unto itself. Expats say they need more communication and support, but employers are viewed as moving in the opposite direction. Expats want more assistance with local culture

Health care costs will continue to rise worldwide in 2016 according to the Willis Towers Watson (WTW) 2016 Global Medical Trends Survey of 174 insurers in 55 countries, employers in 34 countries, and 30,000 employees worldwide who have employer-sponsored health benefits. As private medical insurance costs continue to rise, from 7.5% in 2014 and 8.0% in 2015 to a projected 9.1% in 2016, WTW noted that more than half

Aon Risk Solutions, in collaboration with the Risk Advisory Group, has identified 2015 as the most lethal year for terrorist violence since they started collecting empirical data in 2007. With the issuance in April 2016 of the new edition of its Terrorism and Political Violence Map, Aon particularly emphasizes the rapid evolution over the past year of terrorism and political violence present “a much broader spectrum of potential impacts”

Lockton Benefit in April 2016 appointed Dr. Ronald Leopold as leader of its national Lockton Health Risk Solutions practice. Dr. Leopold will combine his clinical knowledge with Lockton’s data intelligence platform to improve employers’ abilities to identify trends and respond to what’s driving the cost of health. He will also work closely with Lockton’s client service teams to advise employers on developing targeted health management programs to address the

The Cigna Foundation, a private foundation founded in 1962 and funded with contributions from Cigna, in April 2016 announced that it is seeking grant, sponsorship, and “thought leadership” opportunities related to workplace health in Middle East, Africa, India, China, and Europe. This Prioritizing Workplace Wellness campaign emphasizes Cigna’s commitment to health equity and improving wellness via the global workplace and builds on Cigna’s vision of the workplace as being

Lockton Benefit Group in April 2016 announced a material investment in its InfoLock data intelligence platform, used to advise employers on developing comprehensive health management programs to address the continuum of health risks across their working population.  InfoLock will now include predictive analytics solution SCIO Health Analytics, enabling client service teams to gain timely insights into trends and make evidence-based recommendations that have a high probability of improving employee behavior

The 2016 edition of the European Captive Forum will be held in Luxembourg on 8 and 9  November 2016. The 2016 agenda is not yet available, but it is worth noting that six sessions of the 2014 edition out of 37 were devoted to employee benefits or life insurance, as opposed to the ever-dominant theme, non-life coverages. That proportion is significantly higher than the prevalence of employee benefits among

Allianz in November 2015 established a new dedicated unit focusing on Employee Benefits and on Group Life, Health & Pension solutions in Asia. This has a strong impact on Allianz Global Benefits‘ footprint in Asia. Tony Hore, Regional Di­rector Asia Pacific, will continue to be the main interface into Asia for the Allianz Global Benefits (AGB) business in the large corporate segment. In addition to his AGB responsibilities, Tony

IBNR means “Incurred But Nor Reported” and refers to claims that have occurred but where the paperwork has not been yet performed and the insurer is still unaware of them. As these claims still have to be paid out to victims or beneficiaries, insurers need to set aside money (“reserves”) to cover their soon-to-be-discovered costs, hence IBNR Reserves or simply IBNRs. Since the insurer knows neither how many of

Margrit Schmid, former head of the Swiss Life Network, in May 2016 takes up a new professional challenge in micro-insurance at ParaLife.

How to maintain leadership in a challenging environment: lessons learned from GEB Even the insurance sector, once widely associated with stability, is seeing the impact of disruptive forces and shifting landscapes, from technology to demographic trends and of course economic volatility. The new strategic plan announced by Generali Employee Benefits is all the more interesting as it sees a company that is an integral part of the history of

How to maintain leadership in a challenging environment: lessons learned from GEB Even the insurance sector, once widely associated with stability, is seeing the impact of disruptive forces and shifting landscapes, from technology to demographic trends and of course economic volatility. The new strategic plan announced by Generali Employee Benefits is all the more interesting as it sees a company that is an integral part of the history of

Michael Hansen in March 2016 took up the position of CEO of the Swiss Life pooling network. He succeeds Theo Iaponas, head of corporate clients, who held the interim after Margrit Schmid’s departure in May 2015. Michael is based in Luxembourg, where Swiss Life relocated its Zurich, Switzerland-based global employee benefits operations in 2015 and early 2016. A graduate from the Danish Insurance Academy, Michael began his career with

Medha Rishi in March 2016 was appointed Head of Global Benefits and Global Mobility at San Francisco, California-based payment solutions provider Square. Mehda previously was Vice President and Global Benefits/HR Practice Leader at insurance broker Woodruff-Sawyer, global consultant at Aon Hewitt, senior analyst at Mercer and began her career in the sales and marketing department of pharmaceutical devices manufacturer Cardinal Health. During her tenure at Woodruff-Sawyer, Medha was also

Marking GEB’s 50th anniversary, the 2016 edition of the GEB Forum will be held in Brussels, Belgium, from November 21 to 23, 2016. The preliminary agenda includes several presentations and round tables on the future challenges of the Employee Benefits industry. The event website is here. For more information on attending, contact the GEB event team at gebforum@geb.com .

According to Aon Hewitt’s 2016 study of medical trend expectations of employer-sponsored medical plans in 90 countries, the cost of employer-sponsored medical plans is continuing to rise as in previous years and still significantly outpace global inflation. Average Medical Trend Rates by Region 2015 2016 Medical trend rate Annual general inflation rate Medical trend rate Annual general inflation rate Asia Pacific 10.4% 4.2% 9.4% 3.2% Europe 5.7% 1.6% 5.9% 1.6%

Melissa Ruchhoeft in March 2016 joined the Global Benefits Practice of Lockton Benefit as a Senior Consultant. Melissa comes to Lockton from Gallagher Benefit Services, where she served as the Area Vice President of the company’s Multinational Technical Consulting Unit. Before that, she was the Vice President of Technical Services at IBIS, which was acquired by AJ Gallagher in 2014. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Wellesley

250 U.S. employers, representing nearly 7 million workers, recently took part in the “2016 Hot Topics in Retirement and Financial Well-Being” survey conducted in late 2015 by Aon Hewitt that revealed plans by large employers to expand their current financial well-being programs for their employees in 2016. The survey indicated that 55 percent of employers currently offer some sort of help for workers in the areas of budgeting, money

Modern Survey, a Minneapolis, U.S.A.-based employee survey and talent analytics solutions provider, has been acquired by Aon Hewitt in February 2016. In search of new sources of revenues, large employee benefits consulting firms are diversifying into and/or expanding employee engagement services. Modern Survey is responsible for software solutions in the areas of talent analytics, onboarding, 360o feedback, engagement, retention, performance, and measurement. Modern Survey’s current offerings are visible at

Insurope and Ping An are hosting the 29th Insurope Conference in Beijing, China from 1-3 June 2016. This conference is free of charge and designed to bring together Insurope team members, advisors and persons responsible for international employee benefits. Client attendees work for benefits, risk management, finance and human resources departments. The conference allows to share experiences with peers dealing with all manners of employee benefits issues ranging from

A 2015 survey of U.K. defined contribution (DC) pension plans reveals that there is a disconnect between what new initiatives they want to deliver and what they can actually provide. The Aon DC Survey 2015 revealed that out of 330 respondents from 297 U.K. DC pension plans, 57% of respondents feel that the top priority for DC schemes is better member outcomes, while 47% identified the need for specific

Building on a tried-and-tested concept, a great innovation in U.S. healthcare. Reproduced Without Permission from The Onion – Sept 23, 2015 www.theonion.com/r/51369 and kept warm expressly for GBV readers. ROCHESTER, NY—During a meeting with new hires Wednesday to discuss employee benefits, Radian Analytics human resources manager Ellen Schultz is said to have strongly pushed the company’s infinite-deductible health care option. According to sources in attendance, Schultz described the low-premium,

Lockton has named two-time British National Cycling champion Mark Kelly as Regional Commercial Lead for its Asia Pacific division after an extensive talent search. Kelly was hired from Aon’s Health and Benefits Asia Pacific division, and arrives with 12 years’ experience providing strategic advice and relationship management solutions to multinational companies around the globe. Kelly, who holds 23 British Championship medals in total, won the top spot first in

Lockton, the Kansas City-based risk management, insurance, and employee benefits consulting service, has just chosen Andrew Merrilees to head their Asia-Pacific Benefits operation based in Singapore. Lockton’s search for new leadership began in 2015, prompted by a surge in investment and growth in the Asia-Pacific region. Mike Tyler, Head of Lockton UK Employee Benefits, expressed confidence that the addition of Merrilees allows the company to drive faster development of

Nursing homes and long-term care (LTC) facilities face rising liability costs in the coming years unless they can find alternatives to litigation. According to a national study that surveyed 35 U.S. providers operating an aggregate 240,000 LTC beds, the overall national LTC loss rate is expected to increase by 5 percent annually, driven by a 3 percent rise in litigation claim frequency. These findings were the result of the

GBV magazine publishes this 14-page, in-depth article which discusses alternative investments and their suitability for life insurance in general and pension liabilities in particular. By and large, alternative investments are investments in assets other than equities, bonds and cash. They include real estate, commodities such as oil, cocoa and gold, capital goods such as ships and aircraft, and even more exotic categories: hedge funds, private equity, project finance, venture

Generali Employee Benefits in February 2016 released a special issue of its newsletter entirely devoted to the African continent, available for download here. The 28-page PDF booklet covers the region’s macroeconomic outlook (good despite multiple challenges), provides an overview of the African employee benefits industry (still in infancy but with positive trends emerging – and already some degree of complexity and regulations that one needs to be aware of)