In a  major restructuring effort, financially challenged Zurich Group in December 2015 said it will eliminate or move as many as 1,800 jobs, and announced the resignation of CEO Martin Senn. Tom de Swaan, the Chairman of the Board of Directors since 2013, has been appointed CEO ad interim. Zurich cited the August explosions at the port in Tianjin, China, and a poorly performing U.S. auto book of business

Captive insurance has been an increasingly popular alternative risk transfer mechanism for U.S. companies for decades. But what may come as a surprise is that one of the great growth opportunities isn’t a new property or casualty exposure. It’s employee benefits. Some seemingly minor changes in the U.S. regulatory landscape may go a long way in explaining the renewed interest in employee benefits captives – but read on: Peter

Human-resources startup Zenefits may be falling short of its revenue targets and has apparently started to curb expenses, as it struggles to meet investor expectations. Zenefits had announced a target of USD 100m in annualized revenues to be reached by January 2016 but may fall short as August 2015 actuals are understood to be slightly under USD 45m, still a large increase compared to USD 20m in January 2015.

According to traditional financial theory, a firm’s value is a function of its existing net worth and of its future profits. The way in which stock markets value large, traditional, listed brokers appears to be consistent with this. The table below includes some of the largest brokerages / consulting firms in the world and was compiled on November 23, 2015. As of late November 2015, the five firms exhibit

Signaling an increased commitment to the global employee benefits industry, global insurance powerhouses MetLife and AXA in late October 2015 announced they will combine their existing MAXIS Global Benefits Network (MAXIS GBN) operations in a new co-owned joint venture company based in London. Mauro Dugulin, formerly CEO of Generali Employee Benefits Network (GEB), will serve as CEO. MAXIS has been headquartered in Paris and New York since its inception

The 1,500-participant, sold-out event in the Bataclan concert hall was sponsored by music production firm Universal Music Group, a division of Vivendi Universal, who had invited a large number of guests, mainly managers and executives from the advertising, media, music, and broadcasting industries. As soon as Saturday, November 14, most large French brokers and TPAs had set up rapid-response teams and call centers, providing psychological and other support to

In response to questions asked by several GBV subscribers and readers, our three team members who are based in Paris were not harmed in any of the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris and its outskirts. While some had family members at the Stade de France soccer stadium, luckily none were injured in the bombings there. Sadly, Marc Signorel, CEO of our web agency OuterRim, lost two close friends,

Global Benefits Vision publishes in-depth articles written by global employee benefits experts for global employee benefits practitioners and is happy to welcome your contributions. Get in touch with the publisher at eric.muller-borle@global-benefits-vision.com. From the Contributor Guidelines Our mission at Global Benefits Vision is to make the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of the best experts available to all practitioners in an appealing, memorable way. Reading, learning, reflecting—and writing—are important parts

Zurich presented the “Zurich International Programs for Employees” at the October 2015 biannual meeting of the Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA). The new product, to be launched in 2016, allows multinationals to manage their employee benefits coverages through a single global program, combining local policies with cross-border policies; as well as providing centralized data and reports. From a marketing standpoint, the new product is aimed squarely at

AXA Group’s AXA PPP healthcare unit in the UK in August 2015 launched its “Corporate Health Plan for Mid Corporates”, geared towards small-to-midsize businesses (SMBs) from 65 to 250 employees, that provides access to medical diagnosis and to approved treatments and drugs to get employees back to health and back to work quickly. Features usually reserved for larger groups include networks of quality-assessed healthcare providers: over 250 hospitals, 400

Theo Lutgendorff joined in November 2015 as partner in Sprenkels & Verschuren, Actuaries and Consultants, in Amsterdam. He previously worked at Zurich Global Life as global partnership director (2013-2015), and as head of the Zurich Employee Benefits Network (2010-2013). Before his roles at Zurich, Theo was active in the global benefits and pensions market as principal with Aon Consulting. Sprenkels & Verschuren is the largest privately held and independent

For many employers the largest liability related to employees after payroll-related cost is employee benefits. Subject to a turbulent and volatile past, now largely over, some management vestiges remain. Employers should examine the management of employee benefits and how tailored it is to their company’s current risk profile and cash flow. Certainly captives require more administration and an empowered internal advocate who can maximize utilization. But for mid-size and

The 2016 edition of the IBIS Academy will be held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, from May 23 to May 27, 2016. For its 46th iteration, IBIS will include a new three-day Mobility track, devoted to Global Mobility and co-developed and co-hosted with AIRINC. IBIS Academy participants choose one of three distinct tracks intended for different audiences: the IBIS Institute, a “boot camp” for practitioners; the IBIS Conference, a series

Global Benefits Vision  has been retained as the media sponsor of the 46th IBIS Academy, to be held in Amsterdam, NL, from May 23 to May 27, 2016. IBIS Academy stands for three distinct tracks: the IBIS Institute, a five-day training course in global employee benefits; the IBIS Conference, a three-day series of advanced presentations and panel discussions; the new Mobility track about global mobility. A few sessions are shared

Wendy Liu is the head of Zurich Global Employee Benefits Solutions since July 2015. Zurich Global Employee Benefits Solutions includes Zurich Employee Benefits Network (Zebn). Wendy is currently based in New York and will relocate to Zurich towards the end of 2015. Prior to her current position, she was Global Partnership Director for Zurich Insurance Company, Head of Central Deal Desk for Zurich Financial Services and Senior Consultant at

Does it still make sense for a multinational company’s employee benefits plan to deal with 28 different social and tax legislations in the EU? Does it make sense for a  multinational company to set up as many employee benefits plans as the number of the EU countries in which it operates? Plausibly, the answer is no. Yet that is exactly what happens in the European Union — and for

Broker’s Annual Health and Productivity Survey Tracks Employer Trends Employers offering health and wellness programs have moved beyond the standard financial measures associated health care cost savings towards a broader focus on the overall value of health management within a workplace, according to the Willis Health and Productivity Survey published today by Willis North America’s Human Capital Practice. According to the survey, nearly two-thirds of respondents (64%) with wellness

Swiss Re has appointed Urs Baertschi to the new position of President of Reinsurance, Latin America, reporting to Swiss Re Americas President and CEO Eric Smith and joining the company’s Americas Management Team. The appointment is effective January 1, 2016. Baertschi will split his time between Bogota, Mexico City, Miami and Sao Paulo offices. Previously, Baertschi was Managing Director, Head Principal Investments & Acquisitions Americas for Swiss Re and

From the October 2015 Baden-Baden Reinsurance Meeting. The consolidation of the reinsurance industry that is being observed in 2015 apparently is driven by capacity overload, successive years of rate declines and persistently falling profitability. But are mergers and acquisitions (M&As) the right answer? Of course, sheer scale matters but the upside of better mutualization hits its limits fairly quickly and unmanaged diversification is fraught with dangers. In fact, new

Enrollment in public health insurance exchanges is expected to grow modestly in 2016, to reach a total number ranging from 9 to 12 million. The majority of current customers – approximately 9 million – is expected to re-enroll. However, the Congressional Budget Office earlier had projected enrollments to reach 20 million by the end of 2016; the shortfall is most significant and the projected number of enrollees likely will

Shareholders of Aetna and Humana in October 2015 voted separately and approved overwhelmingly the health insurers’ proposed $37 billion merger. Aetna shareholders approved the issuance of up to 127 million common shares to Humana stockholders, who agreed to the terms of the July 2015 merger agreement with Aetna as finalized in July. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2016 after the approval of state

Offering on-site health services is not likely to have a material impact on employers’ medical expenses, but it can be useful in reducing employee absences and workers compensation costs, according to a report by the National Business Group on Health and Truven Health Analytics. In a study of 107 large employers’ health care, workers comp and disability benefit strategies released this week, the availability of on-site health clinics was

A majority of employers are using metrics beyond health care cost savings in order to determine the total value of their investment in workplace wellness programs, according to new survey results. Nearly two-thirds of the 703 employers polled in May and June of this year for Willis North America Inc.’s 2015 Health and Productivity Survey said they rely primarily on value-of-investment measurements — such as health risk reduction, worksite

Health benefits startup Collective Health, a third-party administrator (TPA), in October 2015 raised USD 81 million in additional private investments for a total of 119 million since 2013 to support its plans to begin offering group health care products to self-insured employers in the U.S.A.. Principal investors in Collective Health include Google Ventures, Maverick Capital, Redpoint Ventures, RPE Ventures, New Enterprise Associates and Founders Fund. Based in California, Collective

In the U.S., benefits practitioners are busy implementing strategies to avoid the Cadillac tax — a 40% tax on health plan premiums exceeding USD 10,200 for single coverage and  USD 27,500 for family coverage; the tax is to be effective in 2018. They are making plan design changes such as increasing cost-sharing, reducing subsidies and eliminating plans with extensive coverage. They are also stepping up wellness activities, increasing consumerism

The maximum pretax contribution U.S. employees can make to their 401(k) plans in 2016 will remain at USD 18,000, unchanged from 2015. Other parameters such as the maximum catch-up contribution older employees can make to a plan (USD 6,000), the amount of employee compensation that can be considered in calculating pension benefits and contributions to DC plans (USD 265,000), the definition of a highly compensated employee for nondiscrimination testing (USD

According to a June 2015 International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP) survey of its members, U.S. employers, of the 83% of organizations that do offer a form of education assistance or tuition reimbursement to their employees, 75% reported the program as successful despite the fact that in many organizations, less than 5% of eligible employees participate in the programs. Education assistance programs provide an employee with a fixed