WTW looks to tackle board level ‘area of concern’ with new unit launch

Global re/insurance broker  WTW (Willis Towers Watson) has launched a new global unit focussed on crisis management and contingency risk management across all industry sectors and geographies to accelerate its growth strategy in what it says is an “area of concern” to many of its clients at board level.

The new crisis management unit, formed through the merger of special contingency risks (SCR) and its terror and political violence teams, will sit within WTW’s financial solutions global line of business and be headed up by Jo Holliday, managing director of SCR.

The new unit will work globally, dedicated to delivering crisis management and contingency risk management to a wide number of multinational clients. The crisis management segment covers areas including special crime (kidnap & ransom, extortion, hijack, maritime piracy, political evacuation), terrorism, political violence, accident & health (personal accident, business travel, contingency, sports & entertainment) and active assailant. These propositions are supported by the Risk Advisory and Crisis Support services of the Alert:24 team, SCR’s in-house security risk consultancy and crisis management practice.

Alastair Swift (pictured), head of global lines of business, Risk & Broking, said: “Crisis Management and security risk is recognised as an area of concern to many of our clients at Board level. Increasingly our clients see geopolitical risks as a macro trend and this was borne out by a recent survey where over 50 percent of our clients cited security issues and business travel as key risk factors.”

Christophe Meurier, head of financial solutions global line of business, added: “By establishing a new Crisis Management business segment, we will be able to provide a specialist global proposition which crosses all industry sectors and geographies. The new combined team will provide a highly specialised and innovative proposition which enables us to broaden our client demographic and accelerate our growth strategy in this area.”

Did you get value from this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.