Corporate pension plan buyouts reached $1.084 billion in the first quarter of 2016 according to a LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute sales survey. This is interpreted as a clear sign that companies are eager to limit the amount of risk in their pension plans. The US Group Annuity Risk Transfer Survey, released in May of this year, notes that this is the first time sales have topped $1 billion in

Forget the United States; Taiwan, Malta and Ecuador head the list of countries where expats most want to live this year, a new survey reports. More than 14,000 expats ranked their preferred countries in the InterNations Expat Insider 2016 survey, released in August. In addition to the best overall rating, Taiwan also won first place for personal finance and quality of life, and second place for its working conditions. More than

In September 2016, Zurich appointed Jack Howell as regional chief executive officer for Asia Pacific, based in Hong Kong and reporting directly to Mario Greco, group chief executive officer. In April 2015, Generali, then still led by Greco, had appointed Howell as regional chief executive officer for Asia. Jack Howell, 46, a U.S. citizen, holds a B.S. in Quantitative Economics from Tufts University and an MBA from the University

AXA in July 2016 announced the appointment of Matthieu André as CEO of AXA Global Life & Savings, reporting to Paul Evans who is in charge of AXA’s life, savings, protection and health activities on a global basis. Matthieu André joined AXA in 1995 as a financial controller after a spell as an auditor and consultant with Ernst & Young. His career path included positions as VP, Corporate Finance

PPG Industries, the Pittsburgh-based coatings, specialty materials, and glass products manufacturer, in April 2016 announced that they will begin buying group annuity contracts in order to provide pension benefits to 13,000+ retirees and survivors in the U.S.A. PPG joins such large corporations as Kimberly-Clark Corp., Verizon, and General Motors, who have adopted this de-risking process in order to reduce premium payments to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp (PBGC). PBGC

UK employers tend to fall short when it comes to having a defined health strategy plan for their employees, especially when the numbers are measured against mainland Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). Aon’s EMEA Health Survey Report, published in early 2016, revealed that only 30 percent of UK employers have a defined health strategy compared with 40 percent of EMEA employers, and that only 37% of UK employers

Europ Assistance USA, a subsidiary of Generali Group and global provider of assistance services in the fields of travel, home and family, health, and automotive, has re-branded itself as Generali Global Assistance North America (GGA), effective 12 June, 2016. The multi-phase re-branding operation will begin with the company’s Identity Protection Services division. All products and solutions carrying the Europ Assistance USA name will be transitioned to fall under GGA

Despite the obvious benefits of exercise, cancer patients are avoiding exercise. According to MacMillan Cancer Support (MCS), which launched a study conducted by YouGov Research, many patients avoid exercise for varying reasons, the top three of which are: worrying about being able to find a toilet (36%), feeling uncomfortable getting active in public (31%) and feeling uncomfortable in active wear or bathing suit (24%). Group exercise therapy delivers benefits

Arthur J. Gallagher (AJG) in January 2016 published a whitepaper, Look Before You Leap: Managing Global Mobility. Researched by Kristin Sampson, Area Vice President of Global HR Services within the Benefits and Human Resources Consulting division of AJG, the whitepaper not only addresses the rising concerns associated with the assignment of employees overseas, but steps employers can take to enter the global workplace smoothly and efficiently. In her introduction,

Generali Global Assistance in July 2016 announced the launch in the United States of their comprehensive identity protection platform called Iris OnWatch. With identity theft on the rise, the need for 24/7 prevention, monitoring, alerting, and resolution — the so-called “four pillars of identity protection” — is an important component of cyber security. Iris OnWatch provides an integrated protection system with access to identity theft prevention, monitoring, alerts, and

Agith Jan Juddu is since May 2016 Regional Sales Manager responsible for Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, and Netherlands at Zurich Global Employee Benefits Solutions. Agith Jan has spent a large part of his career focusing on corporate group and employee benefits insurance and reinsurance, pension funds, insurance captives and institutional pension vehicles. He has worked previously as Network Representative with Generali Employee Benefits (GEB), and Senior Client Manager Life

Anne-Gaëlle Colin joined Zurich Global Employee Benefits Solutions in January 2016. She is responsible for meeting the global employee benefits needs of multinational employers in France, Belgium, and the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Previously, Anne-Gaëlle was in charge of international in the broker relationship management team of Swiss Life in France. She was previously International Sales Director at Quatrem, and head of co- and reinsurance for MMA Assurances. She

Rob Brown in January 2016 joined Zurich Global Employee Benefits Solutions as U.K. Regional Sales Manager. He is responsible for meeting the global employee benefits needs of U.K. domiciled multinational employers. Brown has extensive experience in the employee benefits sector with previous appointments as Head of Business Development, Global Employee Benefits, MetLife Asia; Corporate Business Leader for AIA in Hong Kong; Divisional Manager, Employee Benefits with Jardine Lloyd Thompson,

Valérie Lebrun since November 2015 is International Programs Deal Architect at Zurich Global Employee Benefits Solutions. She was previously Chief Underwriting Officer, Corporate Life & Pension and Global Actuary Accidental & Health with Zurich before attaining her present position. Lebrun received her Master’s degree in Actuarial Science from the Université de Lausanne in 1993, and began her career as an intern with Old Mutual in Cape Town, South Africa.

Tim Crockett in May 2016 joined HX Global, a U.S. subsidiary of Healix International, as Vice President of Security, reporting to Declan Meighan, Global Director of Security. Healix International is a global provider of international medical, security and travel assistance services. Tim has spent nearly two decades in the security risk management business including extensive work in the media & entertainment, maritime, oil & gas and travel sectors. Most

Mike Seay in June 2016 joined Lockton as a Global Benefits Vice President and Senior Consultant in its Pacific Benefits operation, reporting to Garrett Noonan, Senior Vice President and Director, Lockton Pacific Benefits. Seay, formerly a Vice President and Senior Consultant at Aon Hewitt, was also previously engaged as Executive Director Global Benefits and Mobility at Avon Products and is an expert in benefits strategy, especially in the areas

AJG (Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.), global brokerage for commercial insurance, employee benefits and risk management solutions, in June 2016 acquired The Buchholz Planning Corp. for undisclosed terms. Buchholz Planning, a Madison, Wisconsin-based provider of employee benefits consulting and brokerage services for middle market and large health care businesses in the US, has over 10,000 physicians, staff, clinics, and hospitals as clients, and has been in business since 1968.

The spread of cancer, or metastasis, has historically been one of the most significant hurdles in the treatment of the deadly disease. In metastasis, when cancer cells break away from a tumor, they spread throughout the body, infecting other organs and vital systems. The question of how these cells survive is closer to being answered, however, thanks to research being performed by Barts Cancer Institute at Queen Mary University

UnitedHealth Group named John Rex, formerly of its subsidiary Optum, as Chief Financial Officer in June 2016. Rex replaces David Wichmann, who has been working dual roles as President and CFO since a C-level reorganization in November  2014. Wichmann will stay on as President of the company. UnitedHealth Group includes UnitedHealthcare and Optum, a health services platform, as well as Amil, Brazil’s largest health care company. Prior to joining

The average cost of care for a typical American family of four covered by an average employer-sponsored PPO has more than tripled from an average of $8,414 for a family of four in 2001, to the current average of $25,826 according to a report by the Milliman Medical Index. While the percentage increase of 4.7% is the smallest yearly increase yet, it is still well above the increase in

Insilico Medicine will unveil a newly-developed Artificial Intelligence (AI) drug discovery engine at the Re-Work Machine Intelligence Summit in Berlin, Germany, to be held June 29-30, 2016. The AI engine is capable of predicting therapeutic use, toxicity, and adverse effects of thousands of molecules. Insilico says that this drug-discovery engine has the potential to transform the pharmaceutical industry and double the number of drugs on the market by “developing multi-modal deep-learned and parametric biomarkers as well as multiple drug-scoring pipelines

The workplace has been slow to change, considering that the world outside it has changed considerably since the cultural revolution of the 1960s. The number of millennial cohorts in the workplace (those born between 1980 and 2000 and commonly known as Gen Y) recently surpassed the number of Baby Boomers, effectively ushering out decades of dated workplace practices that no longer fit the new culture. A new Gallup study

The United Kingdom following its referendum, in June 2016, decided to leave the European Union. From the perspective of global employee benefits and global mobility, the consequences are unknown as of June 24, the day when “Brexit” was announced. Not least because the modalities and the details of the forthcoming separation of the United Kingdom and the European Union are still to be negotiated according to the Treaty of Lisbon,

The objective of Track and Trace Your Pension in Europe (TTYPE) is to allow E.U. citizens to find all relevant information about their pensions regardless of when and where they worked and accumulated pension rights. TTYPE’s European Tracking Service (ETS) extends and builds on existing National Tracking Services (NTS) that store the pension records of an employee along his/her changes in employers in one same country. After a planning

Mario Greco, Zurich’s CEO since March 2016, in June 2016 announced a new corporate structure, shedding the existing life/non-life organization in favor of four regions and several global businesses. The heads of North America, Latin America, Europe-Middle East-Africa and Asia-Africa will report directly to him as well the heads of Global Corporate, of asset management and of U.S. insurer Farmers. Combining life and non-life operations is easier in personal

As part of Zurich’s wider corporate reorganization, Kristof Terryn has been promoted in June 2016 to Chief Operating Officer (COO). The newly created position of COO includes operations, IT, underwriting, claims, reinsurance, actuarial and pricing. Terryn had been appointed head of Zurich’s non-life business as recently as September 2015, after three years as the head of its life operations. A 48 year old Belgian, Kristof Terryn is a member

Chris Mayo has been appointed in June 2016 Head of Global Services and Solutions (non-North America) at Willis Towers Watson. The Global Services and Solutions team works with local colleagues all around the world to ensure Willis Towers Watson delivers to the global needs of its multinational clients. A First class honours graduate in Mathematics of the University of Nottingham and a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of