The Cross-Border Benefits Alliance (CBBA) will hold a half-day conference focusing on the “Swiss viewpoint on Cross-border and pan-European pensions” on 25 October 2018 in Zurich, Switzerland. The program includes three sessions: Cross-border solutions: experiences and opinions of plan sponsors, with Jacqueline Lommen, State Street Global Advisors; Ron Steijn, Global Head Compensation & Pensions, ABB; Daniel Cervantes, Global Head Total Rewards, DSM; Olga Ruf-Fiedler, Dow Chemical Cross-border solutions: experiences

Ahead of Brexit, London-based Prudential in August 2018 announced the reorganization of its long-term non-UK European operations. Currently, Prudential’s European operations are split across The Prudential Assurance Company (PAC), based in the UK, and Prudential International Assurance (PIA), based in Ireland. Going forward, all long-term European business, excluding the UK, will be written by PIA. This includes today’s PAC Poland, PAC France, PAC Malta, and PAC’s branches in Germany

International health insurance provider Generali Global Health (GGH) in October 2018 upgraded its product, Global Choice, by adding a new wellness app called Bria. Bria is a mobile app that helps members identify health risks and take preventative steps. It also offers access to health advice, according to each member’s situation and goals. Bria connects with over 1,000 popular health and activity trackers and is available for free to

Industry lobby, the Cross-Border Benefits Alliance (CBBA) will hold a half-day conference focusing on “The French perspective on Cross-border and pan-European pensions” on 8 October 2018 in Paris, France. The program includes six timely discussions: New EU regulatory initiatives to promote cross-border and pan-European pensions, with Carine Pilot-Osborn, Senior Pension Expert, European Securities and Markets Authority Insurance and Pensions (EIOPA) ESG investments of pension funds, with François-Guy Trebulle, Director

Young people in Britain face mounting debts and unaffordable living expenses according to new research from Neyber, but employers believe employees are borrowing less this year. The September 2018 study, carried out among 10,000 UK employees, found that 70% of people under the age of 34 need to borrow regularly either to pay their monthly bills or deal with day-to-day living expenses. However, only 77% of employers, down from

Generali Employee Benefits (GEB) in September 2018 announced the launch of CIAO, a mobile health app designed to help clients promote healthy behaviors within their organizations, encourage employees to improve their overall health and address lifestyle-related illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, stress, and heart disease. The CIAO app has been developed in partnership with UK-based health tech firm Tictrac. Through research and a deep understanding of consumer behavior and

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

Global HR services firm Randstad in September 2018 released its Q2 2018 Workmonitor survey results. The survey tracks employee confidence and captures the likelihood of an employee changing jobs within the next 6 months, provides a comprehensive understanding of sentiments and trends in key job markets around the world. Published once per quarter, it also covers local and global trends in mobility, job satisfaction and motivation across 34 countries

Cigna in September 2018 announced the launch of Cigna Ventures, a corporate venture fund focused on transformative and innovative healthcare companies. Cigna has committed $250 million of capital to help it find, assess and sponsor early-stage innovation ideas that call for deeper exploration through pilots and test-and-learn activities. The $250 million will be used to invest in startups and growth-stage companies across three strategic areas: insights and analytics; digital

The fledgling Berkshire Hathaway, Amazon and JPMorgan Chase health care company for employees in September 2018 appointed Jack Stoddard as chief operating officer. Stoddard joins the company from media firm Comcast, where he was General Manager of the Digital Health division; and previously, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Strategy Officer of Comcast Ventures’ investee Accolade, a health technology and services company providing health navigation and care coordination to consumers.

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

Marsh & McLennan (MMC) in September 2018 announced the acquisition of Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) for $5.6 billion. Based in London, JLT is the eighth-largest insurance broker and employee benefits provider in the world as per 2016 revenues (1.55 billion). JLT was created in 1997 when Jardine Insurance Brokers merged with Lloyd Thompson Group. The firm operates in 40 countries with particular strength in the UK and Australia. MMC

The 10th edition of AEIP’s Annual Conference will focus on the adequacy and sustainability of social protection in the years ahead. The conference program includes keynote speeches by Ms. Ruth Paserman from the European Commission; Ms. Ulrika Hall from the Social Protection Committee of the EU; and Ms. Flavia Micilotta, from the High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance. Panel discussions will address the issues of access to social protection

Livio Mocenigo in September 2018 was appointed by Zurich as the Global Head of Corporate Life & Pensions (CLP), reporting to James Shea, CEO Commercial Insurance. Based in Zurich, Switzerland, Livio replaces Hanno Mijer who becomes the new CEO of Zurich subsidiary Cover-More. Livio previously headed the Global Customer and Distribution Management for CLP where he established strategic partnerships with major employee benefit consultants, and strengthened the relationship with

Two US researchers recently sparked controversy with their work on the role of “luck” in cancer. Their latest article was published in the March issue of the prestigious journal Science. The researchers, Christian Tomasetti and Bert Vogelstein of John Hopkins University in Baltimore, showed that the disease is less dependent on hereditary (a genetic predisposition) and environmental risks (such as smoking, or asbestos exposure) than on random mutations (such as DNA replication errors) arising spontaneously in cells as they divide and reproduce over the course of our lifetimes.

Health coaching is one of the most powerful ways of changing people’s mindsets for the long term. Practitioners are rapidly taking their place alongside executive coaches, life coaches and personal trainers as another means of making us better people through one-to-one improvement sessions.

We live in a digitized era. Our professional and personal lives go by the dictum that data should drive our actions and reactions. In the course of doing business, companies receive and handle a significant volume of data, and in many instances, this data will include critical—and sensitive—personal data about individuals, be they customers or even employees. Data is increasingly seen as essential to be competitive and is, in its own way, a currency. However, being a data handler also comes with responsibilities and significant risk. In the Philippines, an archipelago composed of 7,107 islands and a population of over 100 million, legislators realized that legislation needed to catch up with this new digital reality.

The UK Group Risk market – even more employees and premiums but, continuing a theme, still too few employer customers purchasing group risk benefits

In today’s landscape, employee benefits need to become the hot topic of conversation. There are many factors driving this since the demographics surrounding today’s workforce are constantly changing. With evolving employee demands and expectations, and new ways of working (think gig economy), employers need to play the employee benefits card to entice potential and current talent to stay put.

Global Benefits Vision: Hello Enrique. Tell us about the highlights of your career, but first, how did you come to enter the insurance field? Enrique Avecedo: Right after I graduated from university with my business degree, I started working in administration at my father’s insurance brokerage firm. I learned operations in a hands-on manner: record-keeping, taking policies to clients, collecting premiums—I’ve done everything.

The current epidemic in the US is thought to have begun with the over-prescription of opioids for pain relief: in 1991, 76m opioid prescriptions were dispensed by US retail pharmacies. By 2011, this figure was 219m. The overall rate of death from drug overdose more than trebled in the US between 1999 and 2016.

Updated blood pressure guidelines from the American Heart Association mean that many more Americans, notably older people, are now diagnosed with high blood pressure, or hypertension. This may sound like bad news, but the new guidelines highlight some important lessons we cardiologists and heart health researchers have learned from the latest blood pressure studies. Specifically, we have learned that damage from high blood pressure starts at much lower blood pressures than previously thought and that it is more important than ever to start paying attention to your blood pressure before it starts causing problems.

Global Benefits Vision is celebrating its third year of publication, an auspicious milestone for a magazine that appeals to such a specialised audience. Owned and operated by global employee benefits industry executives, Global Benefits Vision’s mission is to contribute to the development of the market and to the development of global employee benefits and global mobility professionals, whilst keeping a neutral position among providers.

Hanno Mijer in September 2018 became CEO of Zurich’s travel insurance provider Cover-More, succeeding Mike Emmett. He will relocate from the city of Zurich, Switzerland to Sydney, Australia. He reports to Jack Howell, CEO Asia-Pacific, and to Group Chief Strategy, Innovation and Business Development Officer Giovanni Giuliani. Before his appointment at Cover-More, Mijer was Zurich’s Global Head of Corporate Life and Pensions, a major driver of the growth of