Why a harmonious collaboration with Employee Benefits Providers can be advantageous for International Companies A long-term perspective is key In today‘s world of fast flows of information and increased striving for transparency, it became natural to source products and services from distant markets and change providers/vendors regularly. Often the main reason for repeated changes of providers is price. While in many moments in private and business life providers are

Global benefits network IGP (International Group Program) in July 2021 announced the appointment of Marco Giacomelli as its new Head, replacing Peter de Vries who retires after a long and distinguished career in multinational pooling. Marco joins from iPMI carrier Generali Global Health where he served as CEO. He previously was with Generali Employee Benefits (GEB), serving as Chief Insurance Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and earlier as Technical Director;

In the previous articles of this series, we examined the importance of gaining control over employee benefits (EB) costs and management. As a foundation for action, the Head Office should consider its data acquisition and evaluation. In practice, this is much more complicated than it sounds. The biggest challenge is that EB data flows from different sources (Benefits Networks, insurers, brokers, TPAs, accountants etc.) to subsidiaries and then to

Multinational pooling network IGP in May 2021 announced a new partner in Cambodia, Sovannaphum Life Assurance. Sovannaphum Life Assurance (SVL) is a joint venture between Canadia Investment Holding, the owner of Canadia Bank, and Muang Thai Life Assurance, IGP’s partner in Thailand. The company was granted full license as a life insurance Company by Ministry of Economy and Finance of Cambodia in December 2015 and started operations in 2016.

A group of nine European associations in June 2021 announced the launch of European Retirement Week, which will take place during the week of 29 November 2021. The goal of this initiative is to provide a platform for a wide range of stakeholders to debate the future of pensions in Europe and to raise citizens’ awareness of the need to save for retirement. Achieving pension adequacy is indeed crucial

In our previous article in this series (see Part I here) we examined a case in the Netherlands that demonstrates how the head office of an organization can help subsidiaries with an international approach. We will now analyse another example in which an international solution added value to local employee benefits (EB) provision. Maintaining the example of the German Group, we are assessing a subsidiary located in the United

Swiss Re in June 2021 published a new edition of its SONAR research report under the title “New Emerging Risks Insights”. The report addresses the threats that will shape the future post-COVID-19 risk landscape. They range from the unintended consequences of government interventions through to the dangers of restarting under-maintained industrial facilities. The key issues addressed include: COVID-19 to worsen income inequality; growth in the global middle class slowed

In the previous articles of this series (Article I & Article II), we discussed the importance of knowing the insurable employee benefits (EB) specific to your organisation, so as to understand the total costs associated with providing benefits to employees. With this knowledge gathered centrally in the head office of your organisation, your central Finance and Benefits managers will be able to seek possibilities of optimisation at a local

Zürich, Switzerland-based broker ASN, Advisory Services Network, in April 2021 appointed Kieran Brown as their General Manager in the UK. Brown’s appointment occurs as ASN enters the post-Brexit UK international insurance market. Brown, who was General Manager of Now Health International Europe (NHI) from 2018 to 2021, comes to ASN with over 25 years of experience in international insurance, having worked for Bupa, AXA PPP Healthcare, Cigna and NHI.

t is well known that companies with operations in multiple countries are in the best position when their employee benefits (EB) plans are controlled centrally. The largest companies have implemented a central function within their HQ that is responsible for EB management. However, in medium-size companies with international operations (i.e., 1’000 – 5’000 employees), this level of control and management is still often non-existent. The key to gaining control

. ithin the head offices of many organisations, employee benefits (EB) come as a concern to a variety of C-level decision makers. The responsibility of ensuring suitable employee benefits for an organisation’s workforce is linked closely to a manager’s capacity to meet specific targets. However, to meet those targets, companies require the ideal employee benefits scenario – the ‘dream.’ As a result of operational limitations, the ‘dream’ EB scenario

The European Association of Paritarian Institutions (AEIP) in April 2021 announced the 2021 edition of the World Pension Alliance & Transatlantic Conference. The event will be held online on 2 and 3 June 2021. It brings together leading experts in pension and healthcare benefits, as well as trustees and employee benefits plan professionals from around the world to share their knowledge and experience on the most prevalent issues. The

In 2021, Swiss insurer Zurich Insurance Group expanded its global employee benefits ecosystem by adding Ping An Health Insurance Company of China as a network partner in China. The move strengthened Zurich’s ability to support multinational companies with employees in one of the world’s largest and most complex healthcare markets. By integrating Ping An Health into its network, Zurich enhanced its local offering in China, giving multinational clients access

MAXIS Global Benefits Network (MAXIS GBN) in April 2021 launched new interactive health and wellness reporting tools for its multinational clients. The firm has launched two brand-new interactive dashboards – the OneWorld Visual and the COVID-19 Dashboard – and also an interactive version of its Paid Claims report. All three are available via the OneClient portal, offering multinationals even greater insights into their global employee benefits programmes. The OneWorld

Healthcare joint venture Haven, created by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase to address the rising cost of employee healthcare in the United States, was dissolved in April 2021 after three years of operations. The Boston-based organization informed employees that it will cease activities by the end of next month. Many of Haven’s 57 staff members are expected to transition to roles within the three founding companies, which will

International health benefits provider MSH International in April 2021 appointed Guillaume Deybach as Chief Operating Officer of its Americas division and General Manager for the United States market. MSH International, a subsidiary of SIACI Saint Honoré, specializes in the design and management of international health, death and disability insurance solutions for globally mobile populations. With regional headquarters in Toronto, Paris, Dubai and Shanghai and 19 service offices worldwide, MSH

U.K. risk and insurance management association Airmic in April 2021 appointed Julia Graham as its new CEO. She takes over from John Ludlow and will work with the association’s chairwoman Tracey Skinner. Previously, Graham served as director of risk management and insurance at global law firm DLA Piper; head of strategic risk, insurance, and compliance for RSA; and was Airmic’s deputy CEO and technical director since 2015. A past

AXA in March 2021 announced a series of senior leadership changes in the context of the implementation of its new strategic plan, Driving Progress 2023, presented in December 2020. According to CEO Thomas Buberl, “[…] a renewed leadership team and a simpler organisation [will] accelerate the execution of our strategic priorities […]”. Simplification of AXA’s Corporate Center AXA’s Corporate Center will be led by two Deputy CEOs: Frédéric de

GEB in October 2021 made available a selection of country profiles on disability. Looking at disability on a global basis is fraught with difficulties: definitions are far from identical; and coverage by social security, if any; typical private coverage; claims handling; return-to-work programmes; prevention strategies, all these aspects vary considerably. Hence the need for country profiles presented in a consistent way.   Disability Profiles by country currently available: Australia

“You can’t replace reading with other sources of information like videos, because you need to read in order to write well, and you need to write in order to think well.” – Paul Graham. Something of a legend in Silicon Valley IT and VC circles, Paul Graham is an American computer scientist (Lisp programming language), entrepreneur (Yahoo Store), venture capitalist (Y Combinator), and author. The Global Benefits Management (GBM)

Gallagher in February 2021 announced that Dieter Gistelinck had joined as Managing Consultant, in the Multinational Benefits & HR Consulting practice in Gallagher’s Benefits and HR Consulting Division. Gistelinck will be based in Brussels, Belgium. In his new role at Gallagher, Gistelinck will be responsible for developing the Gallagher Global Workforce Strategy consulting portfolio in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. This is achieved through understanding clients’

Gavin Royston in February 2021 joined Smith & Williamson Employee Benefit Consultants (S&W) as Associate Director, based in London, UK. Gavin will spearhead S&W’s future development in the “strategically important” expatriate and international benefit market. The company plans to expand in this area and comments: “As we move into the post COVID landscape coupled with Brexit, UK firms will need to look at new markets and the opportunities to

The World Economic Forum (WEF) in January 2021 published the 16th edition of its annual Global Risks Report. Prepared with input from global broker Marsh McLennan, South Korean conglomerate SK Group, and insurance carrier Zurich, the 2021 edition of the report focuses on risks arising from societal fractures, with implications for human health, unemployment, widening digital divides, youth disillusionment, and geopolitical fragmentation. According to the WEF, large cohorts of

International employee benefits network IGP in December 2020 announced the launch of its “Virtual Training Series” to be held in the first half of 2021. The series of six webinars will be repeated in different time zones and will be available in English, German and/or French. January 21, 2021: Trends & Development of the International Employee Benefits Market February 18, 2021: Introduction to IGP Pooling March 18, 2021: Introduction

International employee benefits network MAXIS Global Benefits Network (MAXIS GBN) in January 2021 announced it had selected ICAS World, a London, UK-based employee assistance programme (EAP) platform, as a global provider of counselling support and assistance. As part of the MAXIS Global Wellness solution, multinational clients will be able to choose to work with ICAS World, giving their employees access to counselling and work-life services including legal and financial

Allianz Global Benefits (AGB), the employee benefits network of Allianz Group, in December 2020 announced the appointment of Frank Forster as Managing Director and Chief Transformation Officer. According to the company, “Forster’s responsibility will include introducing new digital offerings to meet the growing demand of multinational corporate clients while implementing AGB’s holistic business model, organized as an employee benefits platform, to simplify and digitize the business.” In a statement,

Generali Employee Benefits (GEB) and San-Francisco, California-based Sensely in December 2020 announced a strategic partnership to advance patient interactions through Artificial Intelligence and provide access to Virtual Health Assistants (digitized interactive ‘human-like’ characters or avatars) that respond to voice and onscreen commands through a multi-functional, cloud-based platform. This strategic partnership brings together GEB’s leading network capabilities in the corporate sector and local market knowledge in over 118 countries with