A London judge in February 2019 ruled that a European Union agency, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), could not use Brexit to break its lease. The EMA is moving its 900-people headquarters to Amsterdam, The Netherlands as a direct result of Brexit. It has a 25-year lease for 10 floors in a building in London’s Eastern financial district, Canary Wharf, with 21 years to run. The European agency pays

AXA XL in February 2019 announced it would shed over 700 jobs in Europe. AXA XL has 9,500 staff worldwide. AXA’s business insurance division will end 275 positions in the UK, 222 in France, 140 in Germany, 41 in Italy, and 33 more across the rest of Europe. The move is a step in the integration of XL Catlin, AXA Corporate Solutions, and other AXA entities into AXA XL.

Fitbit in February 2019 launched a new fitness tracker, the Inspire, which is available through health and wellness providers only. From a consumer perspective, the Inspire is a fully subsidized (i.e. free) product intended to be distributed in mass quantities and is promoted “as a way to encourage the well-being of health care recipients”. The tracker monitor activity and sleep, calories burned, and prompts wearers with reminders to get

Global Benefits Vision: What is your role in your company and what is your background? Chris Burns: I am a Partner at EBCG LLC. We are a national and global employee benefits consulting firm. For over 25 years, our team of consultants has helped companies unlock hidden value in their programs. With 5 offices across the U.S., we work with both large and mid-sized companies. We are also a member of the Worldwide Broker Network (WBN), which allows us to assist our clients in over 100 countries around the world.