Captive solutions were created in the late 19th century to provide more flexible solutions in the insurance market. Since then they have evolved to become a practical form of risk management, offering multinationals two financial advantages: lower costs and more control over how they are insured.

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?

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.

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

A prototype issue of Global Benefits Vision magazine is made available to you online three weeks ahead of the launch of the Inaugural Issue. Please note that most of the contents of the prototype issue is based on articles published elsewhere and rewritten for Global Benefits Vision. The real thing, beginning with the Inaugural Issue on September 9, 2015, will feature original, up-to-date material only.     This content

The team at Global Benefits Vision is proud to announce its website, live since July 31, 2015 at www.global-benefits-vision.com ! Thanks to the great work done by Marc at OuterRim and by Yazid at GBV, Global Benefits Vision is online one month ahead of the launch of the magazine. What is available now Read news in the free, public section of www.global-benefits-vision.com Try out the magazine reader application (placeholder “magazines”

In order to align Global Benefits Vision with the needs of the global employee benefits industry, we conducted a survey in November and December 2014, asking what potential readers would like to read in a specialized magazine and how it should be presented and distributed.

Sleep has become widely recognised as playing a really important role in our overall health and wellness – alongside diet, stress management and exercise.

Global Benefits Vision asked Lance Henderson, Head of Sales and Relationship Management at Zurich Global Employee Benefits Solutions, about his view on latest trends in Employee Benefits and discussed topics like the “Duty of Care” concept, the Income Protection Gap, and solutions that can help multinationals to address those challenges.

Every year, from 5 to 20 percent of the people in the United States will become infected with influenza virus. An average of 200,000 of these people will require hospitalization and up to 50,000 will die.

Paula Caligiuri pcaligiuri@gmail.com  Northeastern University Professor of International Business As a Distinguished Professor of International Business at Northeastern University, Paula Caligiuri directs the CALL Program, a corporate-sponsored international volunteerism program in partnership with the National Peace Corps Association. Paula has authored or co-authored several award- winning articles and books in the area of expatriate management, global leadership development, and cultural agility, including Cultural Agility: Building a Pipeline of Successful

Guy Abbiss guy.abbiss@abbisscadres.com  Abbiss Cadres LLP – Founding Partners of the CELIA Alliance Managing Partner Guy is the Managing Partner of Abbiss Cadres LLP and one of the founding Partners of the CELIA Alliance. After a decade of experience leading UK and international employment and employee incentives practices in UK and international law firms based in the City of London, Guy founded Abbiss Cadres in 2008. His expertise is

Michel Moreau michel.moreau@aginsurance.be AG Insurance Business Development for Employee Benefits & Healthcare Michel Moreau began his career in employee benefits in 1993 at Assubel, then moved to Swiss Life Belgium and later to Delta Lloyd Life. Since May 2015, Michel heads Business Development for Employee Benefits & Healthcare at AG Insurance. In his various positions, Michel was in charge of relations with international networks: first with Swiss Life Network and

Alex Edmans Twitter: @aedmans London Business School Professor of Finance Alex Edmans is currently a Professor of Finance at London Business School, an angel investor at ADAY, Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research and Academic advisor at Loan Value Group. Previously, he was Assistant Professor of finance, then Associate Professor of finance at Wharton and worked for Morgan Stanley as a financial analyst before embr

Fabián Bukschtein fabian.bukschtein@gmail.com Arcos Dorados, Mc Donald’s Latin America Corporate Compensation and Benefits manager Fabián Bukschtein, 36 years old, married and a father of two, has been a Corporate Compensation and Benefits manager for Arcos Dorados, Mc Donald’s Latin America business, since September 2014 in charge of management and administration of Corporate Compensation and Long Term Incentives. Prior to joining Arcos Dorados, he worked at Towers Watsons in Argentina

Bruno Gabellieri bruno.gabellieri@aeip.net AIEP, European Association of Paritarian Institutions Secretary General Bruno Gabellieri is the Secretary General of AEIP since its foundation in 1996. Since 2013 he is the External Relations and European Affairs Director of Humanis Group. From 2010 to 2012, he was the Secretary General of Humanis Group (Aprionis perimeter). He was from 2004 to 2009 member of the Management Board and Director of Cabinet and external relations

Denise gómez-Hernández , PHD denise.gomez@uaq.mx  Universidad Autónoma De Querétaro in Mexico Professor Denise Gomez-Hernandez received a Ph.D. in actuarial science from City University in London and a M.Sc. in actuarial science from Herriot Watt University in Edinburgh. She is currently teaching mathematics, life insurance and pensions at Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, Mexico. Her research interests focus on pension finance, life insurance, and mortality and her current research projects include a

Peter J. Bandarenko Peter.Bandarenko@springgroup.com Spring Consulting Group Senior Consultant and Head of New Market Development Peter has more than 25 years of insurance industry experience and is a recognized industry leader in employee benefits, risk financing, captive reinsurance and new product development. Peter has deep expertise in technical consulting and sales, client relationship management and new product development, and has a track record of success in both the insurance

Stéphanie Le Men-Tenailleau lementenailleau@galahad-legal.com Galahad Avocats Founding Partner Stéphanie Le Men-Tenailleau is a partner at Galahad law firm in Paris. She has been a member of the Paris Bar since 1998 and is a member of the Institut des Avocats Conseils Fiscaux (IACF). As a tax lawyer, Ms. Le Men-Tenailleau specializes in Compensation & Benefits, and more particularly in optimizing top executives’ compensation from a tax and social security