AIG Global Benefits Network announced that AlfaStrakhovanie Group has joined its network of 42 insurers. AlfaStrakhovanie offers medical, life, accident and disability coverage in Russia, where all but medical can be pooled. Alfa-Health Center Clinics, a project of AlfaStrakhovanie Group, provides high quality medical services to customers in 12 regions of Russia. One of the largest Russian insurance companies with a full range of services for corporate and private

Olivier Goiot in March 2016 joined Swiss Life International’s Corporate Clients unit as Head of Operations, reporting to CEO Theo Iaponas. Goiot joins from Farad Global Services, a private life insurance broker, where he was CFO; previously, he was Zurich Eurolife’s CFO and COO after positions at Zurich Insurance, Credit Agricole Asset Management and PwC. A graduate of EDHEC business school, he speak Spanish and English in addition to

Swiss Life (SL) Market Unit International in May 2016 has begun implementing a new operating model for its Corporate Clients business line with a new leadership and a new organizational structure centralized in Luxembourg. Swiss Life Luxembourg will take a more significant role as the hub for the cross-border insurance business. Theo Iaponas has taken the lead for Corporate Clients, managing and developing both SL Luxembourg’s activities and the

A leading player in the French benefits industry, life and health insurance carrier Malakoff Médéric (MM), which operates as a non-profit, jointly-managed mutual group, in September 2016 announced it would combine its teams with those of its wholly-owned subsidiary Quatrem. Reasons cited include the “impact of Solvency 2” as well as operational and commercial synergies. Quatrem was essentially Malakoff Médéric’s brokerage unit and wrote group business only, representing approximately

AIG Global Benefits Network (AIG GBN) on 11 October 2016 organizes a technical-commercial information session on pooling and on its network of insurance carriers across the world, that is specifically designed for brokers and financial advisors. Intended both for commercial and technical individuals, the workshop includes live examples and an actual case study at the end to put all the theory immediately into practice. The workshop is free of

China Life in July 2016 joined the AIG Global Benefits Network (AIG GBN) pooling network. AIG GBN landed a big fish in China Life Insurance Company Ltd., headquartered in Beijing and the largest life insurance company in China. China Life has a well-known brand name, as well as of the most extensive distribution networks nationwide, with 979,000 exclusive agents, 45,000 direct sales representatives and 131,000 account managers in combination

The 2016 Asia Pacific Health Conference, to be held in Singapore on 14 July 2016, will share the findings of two studies by Willis Towers Watson pertaining to the Asia-Pacific region. The 2015/2016 Staying@Work survey will present how organizations take steps to develop and implement health and productivity programs to improve health culture and well-being. The 2015/2016 Global Medical Trends survey will show the results of medical cost tracking

Patsy Langridge in May 2016 was appointed Chief Marketing Officer of MAXIS Global Benefits Network, an AXA and MetLife partnership. Based in MAXIS’ new headquarters in London, Patsy reports to Thierry Mestach, head of markets and strategy, working closely with the company’s CEO, Mauro Dugulin, as well as the other members of MAXIS’ leadership team, including Andrew Stocker, Head of Business Development, Philippe Ly Van Luong, Head of Technical

Margrit Schmid, former head of the Swiss Life Network, in May 2016 takes up a new professional challenge in micro-insurance at ParaLife.

How to maintain leadership in a challenging environment: lessons learned from GEB Even the insurance sector, once widely associated with stability, is seeing the impact of disruptive forces and shifting landscapes, from technology to demographic trends and of course economic volatility. The new strategic plan announced by Generali Employee Benefits is all the more interesting as it sees a company that is an integral part of the history of

How to maintain leadership in a challenging environment: lessons learned from GEB Even the insurance sector, once widely associated with stability, is seeing the impact of disruptive forces and shifting landscapes, from technology to demographic trends and of course economic volatility. The new strategic plan announced by Generali Employee Benefits is all the more interesting as it sees a company that is an integral part of the history of

Michael Hansen in March 2016 took up the position of CEO of the Swiss Life pooling network. He succeeds Theo Iaponas, head of corporate clients, who held the interim after Margrit Schmid’s departure in May 2015. Michael is based in Luxembourg, where Swiss Life relocated its Zurich, Switzerland-based global employee benefits operations in 2015 and early 2016. A graduate from the Danish Insurance Academy, Michael began his career with

Signaling an increased commitment to the global employee benefits industry, global insurance powerhouses MetLife and AXA in late October 2015 announced they will combine their existing MAXIS Global Benefits Network (MAXIS GBN) operations in a new co-owned joint venture company based in London. Mauro Dugulin, formerly CEO of Generali Employee Benefits Network (GEB), will serve as CEO. MAXIS has been headquartered in Paris and New York since its inception

Wendy Liu is the head of Zurich Global Employee Benefits Solutions since July 2015. Zurich Global Employee Benefits Solutions includes Zurich Employee Benefits Network (Zebn). Wendy is currently based in New York and will relocate to Zurich towards the end of 2015. Prior to her current position, she was Global Partnership Director for Zurich Insurance Company, Head of Central Deal Desk for Zurich Financial Services and Senior Consultant at

IGP welcomes Gothaer Lebensversicherung AG as their new Network Partner in Germany. Previously, Victoria Lebensversicherung -part of Ergo group and no longer in existence as a separate brand- was IGP’s German partner. Ergo Germany is no longer a member of a pooling network. Gothaer Germany remains a member of the new AIG network (formerly known as ING Global Network).  

AIG in early May 2015 announced that it has acquired a controlling stake in Brussels-based ING Employee Benefits Global Network and renamed it AIG Global Benefits Network (AIG GBN). AIG’s American General Life Insurance Company unit joined the pooling network as the new US partner, taking the place of ING USA, recently spun-off and renamed VOYA. VOYA, in turn, exits the US global employee benefits market in order to

A new member of the AXA group, Mansard Insurance plc is the new Insurope network member in Nigeria. Mansard is a composite, generalist insurance carrier offering life and non-life insurance to individuals, corporations and institutions. Through subsidiaries, it also offers pensions, asset management and health maintenance solutions.  

Mansard Insurance, a leader in the Nigerian employee benefits market, joins the MAXIS Global Benefits Network as a result of the acquisition by AXA of 100%  of Assur African holdings, which holds a 77% stake in Mansard Insurance plc. Through this acquisition, AXA has become the #4 insurance player in Nigeria. Interestingly, Mansard announced its joining of the Insurope pooling network on May 29, 2015.

Margrit Schmid leaves Swiss Life. Her future position was unknown as of early May 2015. Margrit was the CEO of the Swiss Life pooling network and the head of Head Corporate Clients for Swiss Life International since June 2006. She had joined Swiss Life in 1998. Although no comment was offered upon her leaving, it is likely that the forthcoming relocation of Swiss Life’s global employee benefits operations to