It is important for German companies to position themselves as attractive employer brands, especially when competing for young talent in the job market. In today’s tight job market, factors that once promised reliable success in attracting new employees – remuneration, the number of leave days, pensions, company cars – are no longer the only things younger generations are looking for. Instead, non-monetary issues such as work-life balance, working atmosphere, and identification are of prime concern. These are the issues that companies should be projecting in their branding and benefits strategies.

Global Benefits Vision: Thanks for joining us today, Marco – it’s good to have you back. What is your definition of insurtech? Marco Giacomelli: Insurtech is a specialized evolution or byproduct of fintech, which is a combination of the words “finance” and “technology.” As a practical definition, we can say that insurtech is sets of strategic initiatives, specific tools, and processes designed to achieve savings and efficiencies in all insurance processes.

Lockton’s yearly Forum distinctive format includes three regional editions in North America, Asia, and in Europe. Most of the contents is common across all editions with some variations in respect of regional issues.

A measles vaccine protects against measles infection. By introducing a bit of weakened virus, the immune system learns how to deal with it, so when a real measles virus comes along, it can eliminate it. But does the immune system learn more from the vaccine? Recent research suggests, rather intriguingly, that it does.

Sulaxmi Prasad in January 2019 joined Herbalife as Director of compensation & benefits (C&B) and human resources information systems (HRIS) for the APAC & China region at Herbalife. She is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Previously, she worked for Digi Telecommunications in Malaysia as Head of Performance, Rewards and Analytics, then as Head of Talent and Rewards. Earlier, she was a Practice Leader with Willis Towers Watson in Kuala

Here is the list of the 30 French insurance carriers by assets under management (AUM) as of 31 December 2017, the most recent data available. Numbers include individual and group life; health, life, and pension products; and unit-linked as well as guaranteed savings products. Companies with the “B” marker are bancassurance players, owned by a banking group and mainly distributed through bank agencies. #   Name AUM (in m€)

The European Association of Paritarian Institutions (AEIP); pension funds PFZW and PGGM from the Netherlands; the Finnish Pension Alliance TELA from Finland; and social protection group Humanis from France on January 24, 2019 organize a conference on the topic of “Retire Vitally” in the European Union. To kick off forthcoming discussions on “vital retirement”, i.e. retirement in a state of good health, the conference will analyze the current situation; discuss

French insurance group Apicil in January 2019 announced it has completed the acquisition of Luxembourg life insurance company OneLife. Luxembourg regulator CAA has granted its approval. OneLife has more than €5.2 billion in assets under management and employs more than 150 staff across Europe. It focuses on wealth management and asset management services to ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW), high-net-worth (HNW) and highly affluent clients. Apicil, the fourth largest social protection group

Bermuda-based Athora Holdings in January 2019 completed the acquisition of Generali Belgium, first announced in April 2018. The final consideration paid is approximately €540 million. Generali Belgium has 530,000 customers and sells a range of life and non-life insurance policies through around 1,000 independent brokers. In 2017, total premium income amounted to €640 million and assets to €6.5 billion. The company will be rebranded to Athora Belgium in the

Hong Kong-based property and infrastructure group New World Development (NWD) in January 2019 acquired FTLife Insurance, Hong Kong, from JD Group. NWD, through its subsidiary NWS Holdings, paid HK$21.5 billion (US$2.75 billion) for FTLife. The deal is one of the top five insurance M&As ever in Hong Kong. Beijing-based Chinese financial firm JD Group in November 2018 had put FTLife up for sale. It was reported to be looking for

Replicating an earlier deal in 2017 between the European Union (E.U.) and the United States (U.S.), the latter in January 2019 signed a “covered agreement” with the United Kingdom (UK) that protects their respective international insurers and reinsurers when doing business with each other. The new covered agreement basically provides for a limited but very useful form of mutual recognition of reinsurance companies and of (re)insurance regulators. The existing

American International Group (AIG) in December 2018 announced that it has completed the acquisition of Ellipse, a specialist group life, critical illness and income protection carrier in the UK, from Munich Re. Ellipse CEO Lee Lovett reports to Adam Winslow, CEO, International at AIG Life & Retirement. AIG expects Ellipse’s expertise in group protection and its technology to significantly enhance existing AIG Life operations. AIG Life will now distribute

AIG Life Limited (UK) in December 2018 announced the appointment of Philip Willcock as CEO, effective March 1, 2019. He will be based in London and report to Adam Winslow, CEO, International, Life & Retirement. Willcock spent over 20 years with Aviva holding various senior positions in the UK life & health businesses. Most recently, he was CEO and President of Aviva’s joint venture in Indonesia and CEO of

Date Article Title Author Tags Link 12/2019 History of Pooling at Allianz Michael Scheu Pooling Issue 044 12/2019 History of Pooling at Allianz François Jacquemin Pooling Issue 044 12/2019 Vaping and e-cigarettes Allison Kurti Health Issue 044 12/2019 Hospital Price Transparency in the U.S. at Last? Neeraj Sood Healthcare Issue 044 12/2019 To Lose Weight, Eat Less or Exercise More? Juan Ignacio Pérez Iglesias Health, Exercise Issue 044 12/2019

Lloyd’s Brussels in December 2018 announced the appointment of Delphine Marchessaux as chief underwriting officer. Delphine previously was head of underwriting, Cargo at Axa Corporate Solutions (now AXA XL) in France. Earlier, she was head of Marine claims (cargo and hull), having started her career as a Marine claims executive and team leader at AXA Corporate Solutions. She holds a Master of Science degree in Law from IFURTA (Institut

Lloyd’s in December 2018 appointed Sonja Rottiers as CEO of Lloyd’s Brussels and regional director for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). She reports to Lloyd’s CEO John Neal. Lloyd’s Brussels was launched in November 2018 to ensure that Lloyd’s syndicates can continue to write policies in the E.U. after Brexit. Before joining Lloyd’s, Rottiers was a non-executive board member for ING Belgium; Belgian cinema chain Kinepolis; and Leasinvest

Published in December 2018, the OECD Pensions Outlook 2018 report examines how national pension systems are adapting to improve retirement outcomes. This has direct implications for the design and implementation of occupational pension plans. The report focuses on funded pensions and discusses how different pension tools can be combined to meet certain goals. It also considers how countries can improve financial, i.e. tax, incentives. This edition draws lessons from

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

Reto Heini reto.heini@zurich.com Zurich Employee Benefits Network Senior Corporate Relationship Manager – Member of Executive Staff Reto is a Senior Corporate Relationship Manager and a member of the Executive Staff of Zurich Global Employee Benefits Services, Zurich Insurance’s multinational pooling network. He looks after multinational companies in Continental Europe with regards to their employee benefit plans around the world (pooling, captive and alternative solutions). He joined Zurich from Swiss Life

Dr.rer.pol. Paul Wöhrmann paul.woehrmann@zurich.com Zurich Insurance Head of Captive Services EMEA, Asia Pacific and Latin America Dr.rer.pol. Paul Wöhrmann has spent his entire career at Zurich Insurance Company where he currently is the Head of Captive Services for a geographical area spanning Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA), Asia – Pacific and Latin America. As such, he leads Zurich’s involvement in the captive market as well as the integration of life

Samir Chatterjee Claremont Graduate University Professor of Technology Design & Management Samir Chatterjee is the Fletcher Jones Chair of Technology Design & Management at CGU’s Center for Information Systems & Technology (CISAT). He is also considered a leading technology designer and strategist for 21st-century health care. His entry into health care field has been via Telemedicine. Today he leads the emerging field of Persuasive Technology, a stimulating interdisciplinary research field

Michael L. Millenson Northwestern University Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine After a career in journalism that included three Pulitzer Prize nominations, I turned to research and consulting. Following the publication of a landmark book in 1997, “Demanding Medical Excellence: Doctors and Accountability in the Information Age” (University of Chicago Press), I have written extensively in the lay and peer-reviewed literature about quality of care, patient safety

Andrew Boyd University of Illinois at Chicago Assistant Professor, Biomedical and Health Information Sciences Dr. Andrew D. Boyd is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical and Health Information Sciences. For his contribution to the field of Health Informatics, he was awarded 2015 UIC Researcher of the Year in Clinical Sciences, Rising Star. He has over 30 publications (with over 1500 citations). He has been a PI, Co-PI, Co-I

Nick Haslam University of Melbourne Professor of Psychology Nick is a social psychologist whose interests include prejudice, psychiatric classification and refugee mental health. His books include Psychology in the Bathroom, Introduction to Personality and Intelligence, Yearning to Breathe Free: Seeking Asylum in Australia, and Introduction to the Taxometric Method.

Theresa Simpkin Anglia Ruskin University Visiting Fellow Terri is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Lord Ashcroft International Business School. Terri is also the Higher and Further Education Principal at CNet Training and works with partners in the Data Centre sector on a suite of research initiatives investigating workforce issues. These include skill and labour shortages and gender issues. Work currently underway will add a different perspective to the

Amina Aitsi-Selmi University College London, UCL Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer, Epidemiology and Public Health Department Dr Amina Aitsi-Selmi studied Medicine and Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, during which time she spent some time exploring the Cuban public health system and reported this in the journal Public Health. She is a public health doctor and academic specialising in health inequalities, and has also worked in Sudan (on a humanitarian

Nicholas Fitzkee Mississippi State University Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry Dr. Nicholas Fitzkee is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry at Mississippi State University. He earned his Ph.D. in Biophysics from Johns Hopkins University with Dr. George Rose, and he completed a postdoc at the National Institutes of Health with Dr. Ad Bax. Dr. Fitzkee is broadly interested in using NMR spectroscopy to study the