24 June 2014 Insurance

CEOs reveal top industry concerns

Regulation, a lack of relevance and insufficient disaster risk planning are the largest concerns among the world’s leading CEOs.

The discovery comes as Lloyd’s CEO, Inga Beale; Ace Group USA chairman and CEO, Evan Greenberg; Prudential Corporation Asia chief executive Barry Stowe, Munich Re chairman of the board of management, Nikolaus von Bomhard and Dominic Casserley, CEO of Willis revealed their biggest challenges at the International Insurance Society (IIS) Seminar in London this week.

Greenberg said that wealth management is taking place in intangible areas such as cyber and intellectual property and that that industry is losing its relevance by failing to tap into these.

“We are not participating in a meaningful way for some risks,” he said. “If we want to keep pace we need to figure this out.”

He also mentioned the involvement of the capital markets and said that this involvement offers the opportunity to access worldwide risk.

Stowe said that defining the role of the regulator is a major concern as regulatory evolution should be a great thing if companies are already treating customers fairly and operating in the desired way.

“If the regulator only supervises and has no interest in increasing penetration then you are faced with problems when looking to grow markets,” he said.

Casserley said that ensuring the industry didn’t have another scandal was important. “Disaster risk needs more consideration and planning,” he said. “There is a change in what clients want, but the industry isn’t up for it.”

Beale, who is the first female to head up Lloyd’s, brought the sensitive issue of the lack of women in the industry to the table. She said: “My complaint within the industry would be the lack of women. The Old Boy networking tactics have worked up until now, but they don’t work anymore.

“In general we need to do better about attracting and retaining talent.”

Greenberg agreed that attracting and retaining talent was important, but explained that the current generation needs to be treated differently to those in the past.

“The new generation wants to be heard – they’re more dynamic,” he said. “They’re not interested in just getting their head down and getting on with their work if they have ideas to bring to the table.”

Von Bomhard said that for him especially being based in Munich, language and cultural barriers need to be addressed further.

Casserley added: “We need individuals with global expertise, so moving people around within the company is something that needs to be accelerated.”

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