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? Plausibly, the answer is no. Yet that is exactly what happens in the European Union — and for

Broker’s Annual Health and Productivity Survey Tracks Employer Trends Employers offering health and wellness programs have moved beyond the standard financial measures associated health care cost savings towards a broader focus on the overall value of health management within a workplace, according to the Willis Health and Productivity Survey published today by Willis North America’s Human Capital Practice. According to the survey, nearly two-thirds of respondents (64%) with wellness

Swiss Re has appointed Urs Baertschi to the new position of President of Reinsurance, Latin America, reporting to Swiss Re Americas President and CEO Eric Smith and joining the company’s Americas Management Team. The appointment is effective January 1, 2016. Baertschi will split his time between Bogota, Mexico City, Miami and Sao Paulo offices. Previously, Baertschi was Managing Director, Head Principal Investments & Acquisitions Americas for Swiss Re and

From the October 2015 Baden-Baden Reinsurance Meeting. The consolidation of the reinsurance industry that is being observed in 2015 apparently is driven by capacity overload, successive years of rate declines and persistently falling profitability. But are mergers and acquisitions (M&As) the right answer? Of course, sheer scale matters but the upside of better mutualization hits its limits fairly quickly and unmanaged diversification is fraught with dangers. In fact, new