From March 13 to 15, Generali Employee Benefits (GEB) hosted its annual APAC conference in Hong Kong at the Island Shangri-La.
For the first two days, GEB’s chief executive officer Mauro Dugulin, Chief Commercial Officer Ludovic Bayard and Chief Operating Officer Marco Giacomelli met with officers from GEB’s regional offices and exchanged with GEB Network insurance partners on market trends and challenges. GEB hosts regional meetings annually in order to strengthen its regional network position by working to balance growth and results and improve the quality of service for our global clients in the region.
As in past years, the third and final day of the conference opened the conference to market clients, brokers and consultants in the market. More than 100 participants from 52 different companies were represented. Hosted in Shanghai in 2012 and Singapore in 2011, the GEB APAC Conference always attracts a large audience of insurance professionals who appreciate both the high quality content and networking opportunities the seminar provides.
There were several external speakers. Mr Franck Baron of International SOS spoke on Multinational Employee Benefits Pooling. He outlined the approach taken by his company and why international pooling is beneficial to multinationals. He also shared his experience on multinational pooling, where he underlined that pooling is a “financial tool” which multinational companies can take advantage of.
Mr Carl Redondo of Aon Hewitt spoke on Corporate Governance in Employee Benefits Plans. Mr Redondo shared Aon Hewitt’s survey findings. Currently more than 50% of multinationals align their benefit plans with corporate policies or guidelines. This figure will likely rise to 90% within the next three years, and corporations will also see reduced compliance risk through corporate governance and control.
Mr Hans Han, from Huntsman Asia, gave a presentation on implementing simple and meaningful benefits programs that are flexible in order to boost employee engagement. According to the 2012 Hay Group Report, company loyalty hit a 5-year low as more than 40% of the global workforce intended to leave their current company within 5 years. Employees need to be engaged so that they feel a sense of connection. One area is to offer flexible benefits programmes whereby employees can choose benefits that best meet their needs.
Mr Daniel Gutin of Sanofi presented on wellness programmes. He provided us with the different types of wellness programmes adopted by Sanofi Australia and Sanofi China. Wellbeing and wellness should be a part of culture, according to Mr Gutin, and Sanofi has launched several initiatives around three pillars: diet, physical exercise and health prevention. Mr Gutin reiterated that Management must be committed to employee wellbeing in order to have a successful wellness program.
Overall, the seminar was extremely successful. The APAC conference remains a key opportunity to engage with regional partners, intermediaries and clients. GEB’s in-coming business in the region continues to increase annually and now represents more than 15% of the GEB portfolio – on par with North American countries (USA, Bermuda and Canada).
As more Asian corporations establish a global presence, our aim is to increase the flow of out-going business with Asian multinationals with subsidiaries beyond Asia. With our team of specialists located in Singapore, Mumbai, Shanghai and Hong Kong, we are strategically placed to capture new opportunities throughout the region in the coming years. The investment flow flying from China to Africa underscores the importance of having our Regional Offices in key countries and maintaining an extended geographical presence to meet the needs of our corporate clients.