Arthur J. Gallagher in May 2017 announced the acquisition of Zuber Insurance Agency in Houston, Texas. Zuber Insurance, a full-service insurance agency offering employee benefits, commercial and personal property/casualty insurance, and life insurance in Texas, was founded in 1934 by J.L. Zuber. Alan Zuber and his associates will continue to operate from Houston. As far as employee benefits are concerned, they will report to Robby White, head of Gallagher’s South

Global insurance brokerage Hub International in June 2017 announced that it has acquired Brady Insurance Planning, an East Norwich, New York-based employee benefits advisor. Matthew Brady, the principal, will join Hub Northeast. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Headquartered in Chicago, IL and with offices throughout North America, Hub International provides P&C, life and health, employee benefits, investment and risk management products and services. Only one day earlier,

Zurich Eurolife in June 2017 announced the acquisition of an existing book of international pension plans from AG2R La Mondiale’s (AG2R) Luxembourg-based subsidiary La Mondiale Europartner. The transaction is expected to close during the second half of 2017, after regulatory approval. The new agreement with La Mondiale Europartner will see their existing customers transfer to Zurich’s international pension plans. AG2R and Zurich have enjoyed close relationships for many years,

Shelly James in May 2017 joined Altair Global Relocation as Director Global Operations, based in Plano, Texas. Her previous positions include Member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Council for Global Immigration; Global Mobility Program Manager, Americas Region for Hewlett-Packard; Senior Global Migration Advisor for Barry Appleman & Leiden; Manager of US Immigration Services for KPMG; HR Manager for DP Solutions; and Human Resource Assistant for American

International insurance brokerage and risk management services firm Arthur J. Gallagher in June 2017 announced the acquisition of Total Reward Group in Kent, England. Founded in 2005, Total Reward Group is a U.K. consultancy offering remuneration support, executive search, interim placement and corporate training for reward professionals throughout the world. Based in Kent, its consultants work with global brands, mid-size firms, public and third sector organizations across a range

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in May 2017 announced having discovered a way to structurally modify an antibiotic called vancomycin to make it even more potent — an advance that could mitigate the threat of antibiotic-resistant infections. The World Health Organization and other public-health experts have been warning that antibiotic resistance is a serious global threat. Previous studies had shown that it is possible to add two modifications

The Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators (CCIR) in late May 2017 released its Travel Health Insurance Products Position Paper detailing final recommendations to the issues it identified in travel health insurance, to enhance consumer protection and confidence, including: Development of common standardized definitions and terminology Improvements to the application, screening and claims process Simplifying and improving disclosure documents Ensuring adequate controls and oversight mechanisms are in place throughout the

Jean-Laurent Granier in June 2017 joined Generali Group as Country manager for France and Chairman & CEO (Président Directeur Général) of Generali France. In his capacity, he also is a member of the Group Management Committee of Assicurazioni Generali. Generali France is one of the key providers of group insurance coverage in the French domestic market, as well as of French expatriates products. The group insurance division is led

Sirius International Insurance Group, a global (re)insurance company based in Bermuda with a leading position in Accident & Health insurance, in May 2017 announced its acquisition of Indianapolis, U.S.A., -based International Medical Group (IMG). IMG is a provider of global medical insurance products and assistance services and the second addition of an accident & health business to Sirius’s specialty insurance platform in as many months. Allan Waters, Sirius Group Chairman,

Now in its 48th edition, the 2018 IBIS Academy will be held in Berlin, Germany, from May 7 to May 11, 2018. It will include a three-day Global Mobility track, co-developed and co-hosted with ECA International, as well as the IBIS Institute, a “boot camp” for practitioners; and the IBIS Conference, a series of cutting-edge presentations and panels for more experienced colleagues. Some sessions are shared between tracks and

In a letter addressed to leaders in the United States’ House of Representatives and shared with all House and Senate members, the American Academy of Actuaries’ Individual and Small Group Markets Committee and Medicaid Subcommittee in April 2017 provided an actuarial perspective on the American Health Care Act (AHCA). The analysis examines the effects on enrollment and on the risk pool of the AHCA’s replacement of the individual mandate

Losing sleep over money? You’re not alone. A recent poll, conducted in April 2017 by Princeton Survey Research Associates International and released by CreditCards.com, reports that 65% of Americans are losing sleep because of money. The most common money-related worry, expressed by 38% of Americans, is healthcare or insurance bills, putting this concern at the top of the list for the first time since the Great Recession. Another 37%

Aetna International, a subsidiary of Aetna, in May 2017 announced the redesign of Health Hub, its health care benefits secure member portal, after an extensive review of the service. The redesign allows users to search for information about a subscriber’s health, and allows subscribers to have secure access to their insurance and healthcare needs from any location. Members can view their plan details, access claim records, and search for

Susan Bird in May 2017 was elected as the Chair of the World Pension Alliance (WPA) for the coming term. She succeeds Bruno Gabellieri from the European Association of Paritarian Institutions (AEIP). Ms. Bird is a Board member of the Multi-Employer Benefit Plan Council of Canada (MEBCO), the President of the McAteer Group of Companies from Markham, Ontario and has very significant experience in the pension and benefits area.

With growing global uncertainties, there is an increased demand for a way to reach traveling employees anywhere, at any time, and this was the driving force behind a new Active Monitoring service, offered by HX Global as an add-on to Concur’s Integrated Traveller Risk Management Solution, that is designed to help companies manage employee safety. The integrated Traveller Risk Management Solution, unveiled by Concur in March 2017 at Concur

The Insurance chapter of HEC Paris Graduate School of Business Alumni organizes a conference on “International mobility, expatriates and employers’ duty of care” on Tuesday, June 27, 2017 at 19:00. Employers today are subject to a far-reaching duty of care when it comes to the safety of their employees abroad. At the same time, internationally mobile employees expect to enjoy not only adequate health and life insurance coverages but

Humanis, a large French employee benefits carrier that operates mainly as a paritarian institution and also is a major provider of health, life and retirement coverage for expatriates, on 6 June 2017 hosts the tenth edition of its “Rencontres de la Mobilité Internationale” – or Global Mobility Conference. The one-day conference, which is held at the Pré Catelan conference center in Paris, starts at 09:00 and ends at 18:30.

Aon Employee Benefits, the U.K. health and benefits business of Aon plc, in April 2017 published a new report that highlights four ways U.K. employers can support their employees’ well-being in a shifting economic climate: Understand the connections between employee health, wealth and behavior in the specific working population. Secure sufficient budget for employee well-being. The Aon 2016 EMEA health report research showed that well-being budget restrictions are a

Workplace flexibility – part time work, flextime, and telecommuting – is gaining in popularity, particularly in the fields of advertising and marketing, according to new research from staffing firm The Creative Group. More than 400 U.S. advertising and marketing executives and more than 1,000 U.S. workers aged 18 years and older and employed in office environments were asked “Which of the following work arrangements does your agency/firm currently offer?”.

138 Asian senior female executives were polled by U.S. based consultancy firm Heidrick & Struggles, across Singapore, India, Hong Kong, Japan, and China between May and December 2016, and the results of that poll indicate that women in multinational corporations feel marginalized to regional roles. 54 percent of the women believe that the lack of global opportunities is due to their ethnic background, while 47 percent felt that gender

IPMI provider Now Health International in May 2017 announced that, after a comprehensive product review, they are offering significant changes to their flagship WorldCare product. The enhanced version of WorldCare will include a simplified annual deductible structure, higher benefit limits, and new added value services in response to feedback from its members and distribution network. Key enhancements include: Simple annual deductible Now based on a new deductible structure rather

Swedish alternative investments firm EQT in May 2017 sold Bureau van Dijk to Moody’s for EUR 3.0 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017. Bureau van Dijk, with headquarters in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, captures, processes, standardizes, and distributes a dataset about private companies around the world, with coverage of more than 220 million companies. It aggregates approximately 160 different information sources. EQT had

Adults in many countries around the world display low levels of financial knowledge according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Their December 2016 study, entitled the OECD/INFE International Survey of Adult Financial Literacy Competencies , reveals that besides low levels of knowledge, adults fail to engage in financial behaviors that could result in improved financial security, nor do they have financial attitudes oriented toward the long

Today’s global workforce is caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to data security, according to the Dell End-User Security Survey, commissioned by Dell and conducted by Dimensional Research. The rock: be productive and efficient on the job. The hard place: maintain the security of company data. At issue is employee sharing of confidential information without having proper data security protocols in place. The survey

Aon Benfield, the global reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor of Aon plc, in May 2017 announced the launch of its PathWise Solutions Group business solutions package, bringing the integrated enterprise High Performance Computing (HPC) business platform within compliance for IFRS 17 standards for insurance contracts. This standard requires companies to significantly enhance their valuation systems and processes; specifically in areas such as data management, model management, and computational power

Todd R. Miller in May 2017 was appointed as CEO of Risk International, a U.S.-based risk and benefits management firm, effective July 1. Miller has served as the company’s president since 2016 and will continue in this role. He replaces Michael Davis, who has been the company’s CEO since 2009  and remains with the company as its vice chairman, largely focused on business development. Miller joined the company in

Management consulting firm Frost & Sullivan in April 2017 announced findings by its Transformational Health team that suggest that analytics adoption among U.S. healthcare payers and providers is not consistent, and that some health systems might utilize advanced enterprise data processing architecture to derive patient-specific insight for every episode of care. Healthcare analytics is widely considered as the key enabler of value-based care, and robust use of analytics allows