The world of work is fast changing. As life expectancy lengthens and labour markets shift, our working lives have become more complicated. The old expectations about how we work have become unsustainable – not least the expectation that we religiously travel to and from a fixed location ten times a week during rush hour, with all the knock-on effects that this has for carbon emissions.

Willis Towers Watson (WTW) in December 2018 announced the appointment of Pam Enright as Senior Director and leader of its Expat Benefits Solutions business. She will report to Francis Coleman, managing director, Global Services and Solutions, and be based in Chicago. Pam has been in the employee benefit industry for over 25 years. Prior to joining WTW, she was a senior vice president and director of global benefits at

French insurer Apicil in December 2018 launched an EUR 10 million insurtech fund along with private equity firm Odysseus Alternative Ventures (OAV). The fund will invest in European startups “seeking to develop new technologies, new business models and new forms of delivery for the insurance sector”. APICIL Group is France’s 4th largest provider of occupational health, life, and retirement plans. OAV is the private equity and venture capital arm

Andrew Stocker in December 2018 became Head of Employee Benefits Gulf at MetLife, based in Dubai. He has spent his entire career at MetLife, where he previously was Head of distribution, MetLife Global Employee Benefits and Maxis GBN; Vice President and head of distribution for MetLife Global Employee Benefits; head of Global Relationship Management; and Regional director of Employee Benefit sales, based in Dallas, Texas. He holds a Bachelor

Swiss Re in December 2018 appointed Paul Murray as Global Head of Life and Health, based in London, UK. He succeeds Swiss Re’s CEO of reinsurance for the EMEA region, Russell Higginbotham. Murray previously was global chief pricing officer for the L&H business; head of Swiss Re’s global L&H Products Center; managing director, Life & Health Products, Asia; managing director, Life & Health Products, UK, Ireland and Africa; director,

French regulator ACPR in November 2018 gave its final approval to the merger between Malakoff Médéric and Humanis, effective January 1, 2019. Both companies are paritarian institutions and offer supplementary pensions and life and health insurance. The new leadership team announced in December 2018 includes: Thomas Saunier, CEO Michel Estimbre, Deputy CEO, in charge of supplementary pensions, Human Resources, IT, underwriting, and operations; Christophe Scherrer, Deputy CEO, in charge

Aon in December 2018 released a paper, The Contemporary Drivers of Mental Health, detailing factors driving poor employee mental health in the UK. Debt, separation and bullying are the personal issues of most concern to employers when it comes to employee mental health, according to a poll of employers. Of the 92 employers surveyed, 39 stated that money and debt were their biggest concerns for employee mental health, 27

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in November 2018 released the 2018 edition of Health at a Glance: Europe. This report is led by the European Commission and designed to assist member states in improving the health of their citizens and the performance of their health systems. The report cites “two overarching trends [that] warrant special mention”: [T]he steady increase in life expectancy has slowed considerably in

Generali in November 2018 launched Generali Global Pension (GGP), a global business unit dedicated to pensions. The initiative is in line with Generali’s strategic targets of “consolidating its global leadership in Employee Benefits, and accelerating the growth of its asset management business.” GGP will provide multinational corporations with pensions de-risking solutions and cross-border plans. It will also create an additional distribution channel for Generali’s multi-boutique asset-management platform and develop

Accounting standard setting body IASB (International Accounting Standards Board) in November 2018 decided to defer the effective date for International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 17 – Insurance Contracts – to January 1, 2022. IFRS 17 deals with the recognition of income arising from insurance contracts and its presentation in annual accounts. At the same time, the temporary exemption to IFRS 9 that was included in IFRS 4 also was

Employer-provided health care benefits costs are expected to increase modestly around the globe in 2019, according to the 2019 Global Medical Trends Survey of medical insurers published in November 2018 by Willis Towers Watson (WTW). Insurers blame the high cost of medical technology and the overuse and overprescribing of services as major factors in escalating costs and caution that soaring pharmacy costs will become a significant factor over the

New research published by MetLife UK in September 2018 shows nearly two out of three SME bosses worry their staff face a benefits protection gap in comparison with workers at larger firms. The nationwide survey of companies employing between 50 and 300 staff – equivalent to around 34,000 businesses with an annual turnover of £541 billion and employing 3.3 million people – found 63% of bosses worry about a

Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy (Fragomen) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in September 2018 announced a strategic alliance to offer common immigration, tax and global mobility services to clients and their cross-border employees. Cross-border employee mobility is changing dramatically with frequent business travel replacing traditional, long-term assignments and relocations. In addition, the geopolitical landscape makes immigration increasingly complex. Developments in the field are creating new compliance challenges for organizations as

American International Group (AIG) in September 2018 acquired Glatfelter Insurance Group, a Pennsylvania-based full-service broker and insurance company that provides services for specialty programs and retail operations. Headquartered in York, Pennsylvania, Glatfelter “brings high-quality program underwriting capabilities that will accelerate the strategic positioning of AIG’s general insurance business,” AIG said in a statement. Glatfelter is a large privately owned U.S. insurance broker and has more than 500 employees. Its

Alistair Fraser in September 2018 was appointed chief executive officer of the U.K. corporate division of global broker Marsh. Fraser previously was CEO and president director of Marsh Indonesia and a member of Marsh Asia’s executive committee. He succeeds Joe Grogan, who has been named the chairman of Marsh Ireland. He will report to Chris Lay, CEO of Marsh UK & Ireland. Grogan, who will concentrate on Marsh’s Brexit

Next Insurance, a Palo Alto, California-based digital insurance company that focuses on small businesses, in August 2018 became a licensed insurance carrier, shedding its brokerage business model. As a carrier, Next Insurance is able to write policies independently, resulting in better control over underwriting, pricing, and policy wording. The company now works directly with U.S. state insurance regulators to introduce innovations in the small business insurance market, including on-demand