In the 20th-century, companies were predominantly capital intensive and competed on cost efficiency. The 21st-century company is different: competitive success depends on a company’s intangible assets, such as human capital and the capacity for research and development, requiring significant and sustained investment.

Does it still make sense for a multinational company’s employee benefits plan to deal with 28 different social and tax legislations in the EU? Does it make sense for a multinational company to set up as many employee benefits plans as the number of the EU countries in which it operates?

Most Western Europeans underestimate their personal risk of becoming unable to work, according to an August 2015 survey by Zurich covering six European countries. Respondents generally tend to overestimate accidents as a leading cause of disability. But at the same time, they are unaware that the probability of becoming work-disabled during one’s working lifetime – whether due to an accident or other causes – may be as high as

The announcement of the impending replacement of Kristof Terryn as CEO of Zurich’s Global Life business unit is apparently the first step in a wider reshuffle. Being promoted to CEO of Zurich’s General Insurance unit is an indication that Terryn was successful in implementing Zurich Group’s strategy in life insurance. Current rumors have it that an external search for a new Global Life leader has been initiated; this does

Zurich announced in September 2015 that Kristof Terryn, currently CEO of Global Life, will take over as CEO of General Insurance, effective October 1, 2015. He replaces Mike Kerner, who held the job since September 2012. Kristof Terryn will continue to run the Global Life business until a replacement is announced. A 48 year old Belgian, Kristof Terryn has been CEO of Global Life since August 2013, and a

Lockton in August 2015 appointed former Allianz Group executive Guilherme Perondi Neto as deputy CEO of its Brazilian subsidiary, Lockton Brazil. His career included stints at credit insurer Euler-Hermes, a member of Allianz group, and at several corporates as credit manager. He holds an MA in strategic management from Universidad Europea del Atlantico, Spain, and an Executive MBA from IBMEC in Brazil.

As of January 1, 2016, American International Group (AIG) will freeze defined benefit (DB) pension plans for its U.S. employees and enhance its offering of 401(k) defined contribution (DC) plans. In so doing, AIG ceases incurring additional pension liabilities and transfers risk onto the shoulders of its employees. De-risking pensions by reducing DB exposure is a common course of action since the mid-2000s, recommended by insurers and consultants alike.

IEBA Chairman Marco Giacomelli‘s interview with Global Benefits Vision  is available here as a PDF file. IEBA, the International Employee Benefits Association, is the largest organization of people working in global employee benefits, with more than 700 members from around the world. Website : ieba.org.uk

Chubb do Brasil joined the AIG Global Benefits Network in July 2015. Chubb has been present in Brazil since 1845 and has been developing an Employee Benefits desk since the 1970’s. Chubb will pool Group Life and its riders in Brazil. With this addition, AIG GBN continues its expansion in Latin America.

THE INAUGURAL ISSUE OF Global Benefits Vision   MAGAZINE IS NOW ON-LINE AS PLANNED. On September 9, 2015 at 09:09 UTC and right on schedule, the GBV  team released the first issue of the magazine. It is available for subscribers at www.global-benefits-vision.com/the-inaugural-issue/ ! As of release time, GBV  has 549 subscribers, most of them belonging to organizations having purchased a group subscription and to their corporate clients. Going forward, GBV is looking forward to having many

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Read the (prospective) client survey conducted in December 2014, as published in the Inaugural Issue of Global Benefits Vision magazine here

In late June 2015, GBV learned that AIG Benefit Solutions President and CEO Curt Olson was about to leave AIG. Only a few weeks earlier, Olson had led AIG’s comeback in the global employee benefits market, five years after the sale of the “old” AIG network along with other ALICO assets to MetLife. In late April 2015, AIG acquired a majority stake in ING’s ING Employee Benefits – Global

Going West – An Interview of IEBA’s new chairman Marco Giacomelli De-risking pension liabilities Norman Dreger Expatriates: the interplay between Assistance and Insurance Ludovic Bayard and  Emmanuel Légeron Getting the value back: an employee benefits captives primer Tony Hore Employee Liabilities and risk management Paul Pittman Multinational Pooling: the value of reinsurance Peter de Vries and Nele Segers Why happier workers matter more than you think Alex Edmans Lockton May

Certainly captives require more administration and an empowered internal advocate who can maximize utilization. But for mid-size and up international companies the benefits can be extensive. With barriers to mobility changing and global salary scales emerging, there is a movement toward common terms, pay, and benefit plans for mobile employees.

Today’s globalized and interconnected economies rely on an increasingly mobile workforce with a growing number of workers across sectors planning careers abroad. But while everybody recognize that expatriate employees are a key asset for companies, providing them with adequate benefits can be a huge challenge.

Human resource professionals from around the globe joined Lockton Global for the 2015 Global Benefits Forum May 4-6 in Barcelona, Spain. The two-and-a-half day conference – “The Future of Global HR & Employee Benefits” – was designed to help human resources professionals enhance their understanding of current international employee benefit trends and developments.

When it comes to extracting the true value from employee benefit captive risk financing, it’s not just about the direct cost savings anymore, says Tony Hore of Allianz. Here he shares some thoughts, interspersed with real-world case studies from his exclusive interview with Global Benefits Visions’ editorial staff.

When comparing pooling networks, a distinction is often made between Integrated and Non-Integrated Networks. But we suggest a far more important distinction can be made, based on whether or not the network’s pooling operations are based on reinsurance.

As he juggled his full-time position and his new role as chairman of the rapidly-expanding International Employee Benefits Association, Generali’s Marco Giacomelli took a few minutes to sit down with the editors of Global Benefits Vision and reflect upon the changing nature of the industry and the association.

Does corporate social responsibility improve the value of a company? When making decisions, should companies only care about shareholders or should they take other stakeholders (e.g., employees, customers, the environment) into account? This is a decades-old debate, but despite many cogent views on both sides, there’s surprisingly little hard evidence.

The trend for employers to move from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) pension plans is a global phenomenon. Many multinational companies now have pension guidelines that encourage or even require pension provision to be granted using a defined contribution approach, and some emerging economies without long-standing pension systems have skipped DB benefit provision altogether.

LaLux insurance company has acquired a further 75% stake in health insurance carrier DKV Luxembourg which it nows wholly owns. LaLux will implement a full operational integration of DKV Luxembourg in the coming months. The second-largest domestic insurer in Luxembourg behind Le Foyer, LaLux is the AIG Global Benefits Network partner for Luxembourg and offers a full range of group life, health and pension benefits as well as other

Sören Schulze joined Allianz Global Benefits in June 2015 as Senior Network Mana­ger based in Munich. In his new position, he is responsible for the operatio­nal and day-to-day management of the network insurers within the Allianz Global Benefits network and reports to Dr. Reinhardt Schink, Head of Market Management. Sören Schulze started his professional career at Generali Emplo­yee Benefits in Frankfurt, Germany as an account executive. He continued his

David Myers was appointed head of Global Broker Life & Health Development in January 2015, based in Munich. In his new role he is responsible for strategic engagement with global brokers. He directly reports to Dirk Hellmuth, CEO and Head of Sales & Distribution of Allianz Global Benefits. Earlier, he was part of the Allianz Group broker distribution team where he has been for four years, the last two

Adam King was appointed Regional Director for the Americas in June 2015, based in Chicago. He is responsible for Employee Benefits sales and distribution to multinational companies in North and South America. In this role he directly reports to Dirk Hellmuth, CEO and Head of Sales & Distribution of Allianz Global Benefits. Before joining Allianz Global Benefits, he was with MetLife/Maxis and in charge of business development in the

In a compact, fast but mid-resolution version, the prototype issue of Global Benefits Vision magazine is now made available to you on-line. Its contents are identical to the version published a few days ago. Let us know which one you prefer: the fast one, or the hi-res one? Please note that most of the contents of the prototype issue is based on articles published elsewhere and rewritten for Global