U.S. benefits broker and service provider OneDigital announced in March, 2019, that Mark Juneau has been named Vice President of Global Benefits. Juneau comes to OneDigital from San Francisco, CA-based Alliant Employee Benefits, where he was a senior vice president. Previous to his four years with Alliant, Juneau was with Mercer as a benefits consultant, principal, and ASEAN Retirement Business Leader. Juneau holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in March 2019 released the ninth edition of Society at a Glance, the biennial OECD overview of social indicators. The full report can be accessed here. This edition of the report addresses the growing demand for quantitative evidence on social well-being and its trends, and focuses on LGBT groups (lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender) and their lack of acceptance in

Kathy Farmer has been promoted to Vice President, Global Benefits, for Levi Strauss & Co., as of March 2019. Ms. Farmer was formerly Senior Director Global Benefits at Levi Strauss for six years. Ms. Farmer joined Levi Strauss & Co. in 2013 after serving as Total Rewards Principal Consultant with The Clorox Company, where she designed and deployed global solutions for the Total Rewards practice with a focus on

Willis Towers Watson announced in March 2019 that Laurie Paillat has been promoted to Associate Director, based in Paris, France. Ms. Paillat joined WTW after serving as Global Benefits Manager for Criteo, a Paris-based software company. Prior to that, she was an employee benefits expert for EMEAR, Dassault Systèmes, based near Paris. She has also been a pension consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers in London and Paris, and an actuary and

According to regulatory filings made in February 2019, Aon has incurred nearly $1 billion in costs related to a restructuring plan announced in May 2017, and will incur about $243 million more in costs when the plan is completed by the end of 2019. Initiated in 2017, Aon’s global restructuring plan has now estimated the number of job losses between 4,800 and 5,400, a 12 percent increase from a

American International Group (AIG) in April 2019 announced it had sold its entire stake in People Insurance Co. of China (PICC) for HK$3.8 billion (US$482 million). AIG had bought into PICC as a “cornerstone investor” in its initial public offering in December 2012. According to Bloomberg, AIG made a 1.75% profit including dividends over the six years, when Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index generated a total return of

  With the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union delayed until May 22, 2019, if the Brexit deal is accepted, or April 12, 2019, if rejected, many clients of the insurance industry are unsure of what to do in either case. Lockton in March 2019 released an advisory: Brexit update: What US multinational employers need to know to help its clients and others in the industry during these

Bank of New York Mellon, located in Pune, Maharastra, India, has named Moumita Das as Vice President in charge of Compensation and Benefits as of January 2019. Das comes to BNY Mellon from her previous position as Compensation and Benefits Manager at Novartis in Hyderabad, India, and with American Express India. Das began her career as a network engineer with Accenture in India, and moved on to Human Resources

Steffen Zwick in March 2019 joined Mercer Switzerland as Head of Marketing and Communication. He was before with Mercer as a Marketing Manager as well as Campaign Manager for content marketing and left to take a position as Senior Marketing Associate with Eaton Vance Management International in London. He has since returned to Mercer and is now located in Zurich. Zwick holds an MA in Linguistics from Heidelberg University.

Rebecca Wheeler joined Willis Towers Watson (WTW) as International Benefits Manager as of March 2019. Wheeler previously held the same position with Phillip Morris International, where she had worked since 2012. She was also an International Consultant with Towers Watson from 2008 to 2012. Prior to that, she was a Regional Benefits Analyst and International Benefits Analyst at Microsoft. Wheeler holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from

Lockton in March 2019 named Claude Yoder as partner, along with Guy Carpenter and Nick Durant, of its new company, Lockton Global Re, as of May 2019.  Yoder, an experienced analytics expert, will be based in New York. Yoder joins from Guy Carpenter, where he was Chief Innovation and Product Development Officer, after serving as Global Head of Analytics for Marsh. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in

American International Group (AIG) in March 2019 announced the appointment of Betsy Palmer as Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Strategy, Communications and Industry Leadership Officer, AIG Life & Retirement. She will be based in New York and will report to Kevin Hogan, Chief Executive Officer, Life & Retirement, as a member of the Life & Retirement Executive Team. Ms. Palmer will assume responsibility for all marketing, communications, stakeholder

Insurance Europe in March 2019 published a checklist regarding the insurance implications of a no-deal Brexit. Insurance Europe is the European insurance and reinsurance federation, representing all types of insurance and reinsurance carriers. Intended for the general public but relevant for business travelers and short-term secondments, the checklist deals with: Motor insurance – Currently, motorists insured in any EU member state can drive their vehicle in any other EU member

Artex Risk Solutions, a provider of insurance, reinsurance, and alternative risk management solutions, in March 2019 announced that Peter Mullen has re-joined the company as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He takes over from former CEO David McManus, who will assume the new role of Chairman going forward. Mullen has been CEO at Aon Captive & Insurance Management for the last seven years, and will begin his position with Artex

B3i raised about $16 million in February 2019, bringing its total capital to over $22 million. B3i is a blockchain startup owned by some of the world’s largest insurance companies. Slightly more than half of the new capital came in the form of cash, with the rest coming as converted debt. B3i had previously raised 6.3 million Swiss francs in March 2018. B3i’s founding shareholders include Aegon, Allianz, Munich

HX Global, the Americas division of Healix International, in March 2019 appointed Tim Crockett as senior vice president, U.S. Business Operations. Crockett joined HX Global in 2016 as vice president of security. In that role, he was tasked with designing and providing security and risk management solutions for multinational organizations. Prior to joining HX Global, Crockett worked as senior director of global security operations for media conglomerate Turner. He

Alliant Insurance Services in March 2019 announced it had added Lee Doble as Consultant as of January 2019. He is based in Huntington Beach, California. He comes to Alliant from Crystal and Company, where he spent eighteen years as Managing Director. Prior to that, Doble was Managing Director at Frank Crystal & Co., Inc. for twelve years, and a senior account executive at Aetna for over thirty years. Doble

New GDP data published in March 2019 by the Conference Board shows that growth has slowed to 2.6 per cent in the United States for the final quarter of the year, despite growing at nearly four per cent last year. Growth is still above the U.S. economy’s long-term two-per cent trend. The U.S. can expect a further slowdown in growth due to fading effects of an anemic fiscal stimulus,

OECD in March 2019 released a new survey, “Risks that Matter”, which asked over 22,000 people aged 18 to 70 years old in 21 countries* about their worries and concerns, and their opinions on how well they think their governments help them tackle social and economic risks. The nationally-representative survey finds that many people in OECD countries believe public services and social benefits are difficult to reach and inadequate.

Munich Re-owned ERGO Group, which includes ERGO Deutschland, ERGO International, and ERGO Digital Ventures, in March 2019 sold four ERGO International subsidiaries to the Euroins Insurance Group (EIG) for an undisclosed amount. The sale involves ERGO’s life and non-life subsidiaries in Romania and the Czech Republic as well as its non-life company in Belarus. In 2017 they had a combined gross written premium of €72 million. The purchase agreement

Aon in March 2019 announced, then cancelled plans to merge with Willis Towers Watson (WTW) in what would have been the industry’s largest ever merger. The cancellation announcement was made just one day after Aon announced it was considering a takeover bid for WTW. According to a statement released on Tuesday, March 5, Aon was in the early stages of exploring an all-share tie-up with WTW, and indicated that

Randstad in March 2019 released the first quarter 2019 edition of its Workmonitor report. Workmonitor’s Mobility Index, which tracks employee confidence and captures the likelihood of an employee changing jobs within the next six months, provides a comprehensive understanding of sentiments and trends in the job market. Besides mobility, the survey addresses employee satisfaction and personal motivation as well as a rotating set of themed questions. The report for

People respond to voice warnings, not to standard fire alarms, and evacuations are speedier when timely information is communicated, according to a study released in March 2019 by Siemens Building Technologies. It has been noted many times, in multiple studies, that building occupants often ignore or are slow to respond to standard fire alarm sounders. There is even a tendency for people to continue with their activities, oblivious to

Lockton in March 2019 named Timothy Gardner as CEO, partnered with Nicholas Durant and Claude Yoder, of its new company, Lockton Global Re. Gardner will be based in New York City, USA. Gardner joins Lockton from Guy Carpenter, where he was CEO for U.S. Operations. Previously, Gardner was with Marsh as Risk Management Global leader and COO for the US and Canada divisions.  He was also Eastern Regional Manager

Lockton in March 2019 named Nicholas Durant as CEO partner, along with Tim Gardner and Claude Yoder, of Lockton Global Re. This new reinsurance unit will incorporate Lockton’s specialty team based in London as well as its current reinsurance units Lockton Re U.S. LLC and Lockton Re U.K. LLP.   Durant will be based in New York. Durant was previously managing director with Guy Carpenter, and president of Marsh Captive

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The Retire Vitally conference, where participants gathered to discuss best practices pertaining to retiring in good health in the European Union, was held 24 January 2019 at PGGM headquarters in Zeist, the Netherlands. The event was organized by AEIP, TELA (Finland) and PGGM (The Netherlands).