November 2018
Generali China Life & GEB International Lines partner to build new market share
Generali China Life and GEB International Lines have demonstrated that working together can bring two-way business opportunities. They recently partnered on a lead generation and market intelligence sharing exercise, with a view to growing business opportunities for both parties, whilst also deepening relationships with existing clients in the local market.
GEB International Lines is a division under GEB dedicated to providing corporate clients with tailored cross-border employee benefit (EB) solutions for their globally mobile employees. Companies often use local plans only. This introduces significant variability – in terms of benefit design and cost – in overall programmes, along with complex administration and governance.
Generali China Life is the only Total EB Solutions provider in China. They wanted to reach out to multinational corporations and be seen as such: a true provider of streamlined benefits covering all overseas assignees, bringing to clients advantages in terms of cost optimisation, simplified administration and central management of multi-carrier agreements to improve overall governance. The goal was to deepen relationships with existing clients whilst generating opportunities with new.
The two parties represented a perfect match. They shared market intelligence to better understand the HR culture and EB strategies of large privately owned enterprises with extensive populations of assignees around the globe. They also worked together to educate Chinese clients on pooling and captive arrangements, including healthcare management and engagement.
The project also included a LinkedIn marketing campaign that targeted multinational corporations sending mobile employees to China, with a view to generating leads for Generali China Life as well as the other Network Partners in the APAC region.
Shen Yue, Head of Group Employee Benefits, Generali China Life, said the support of GEB International Lines was invaluable in terms of providing the resource and expertise required to help reach out to multinationals. “I relied on the support of GEB as I’m effectively a one-man-band. Generali China Life benefits from doing local business and showing we’re the best at offering support to multinationals.”
Pasquale Gorrasi, Head of GEB International Lines, added: “We need to look together at how we can improve and grow niche but profitable markets. We have thousands of expatriates and mobile employees on our books. They tend to enjoy above average spending capacity and are looking for additional and exhaustive benefits and coverages. They’re also keen to use new technologies. In short, they represent further untapped opportunities for our Group. In addition, the Chinese market is becoming mature for outgoing leads, meaning Chinese multinationals are just starting to need coverages for expatriates abroad. A market with significant potential ahead.”