A global market focus

Rough Notes, Apr 2001 by Zinkewicz, Phil

The International Insurance Society is committed to being a global resource to the worldwide insurance community

The insurance world is growing much smaller these days, what with the proliferation of mergers and acquisitions and the relatively new emphasis on establishing global ties. As for the global emphasis, we say "relatively new" because it is in only the last decade that United States insurance interests have made any real strides in terms of entry into foreign markets. Certainly, we've always had our international players, American International Group and Chubb being among the most recognized. And, for a time, an organization called AFIA (American Foreign Insurance Association), a group of several U.S. national insurance companies, dipped its toes into international waters back in the '70s. But, in large measure, U.S. insurers have, until fairly recently, remained content with concentrating on domestic obligations.

Today, however, all that has changed dramatically. The reasons are many. First, U.S. insurers finally had to come to grips with the fact that foreign insurers were making strong inroads into the U.S. market, bringing about greater competition. Second, with the new financial services deregulation law, which calls for more uniformity in insurance matters, foreign insurers will very likely find the U.S. insurance scene even more attractive. And third, the explosive growth in new technologies has facilitated a more rapid communication with overseas markets.

But new technologies, while providing easier and faster means of communication, cannot provide U.S. insurers with the expertise they need to interpret local laws in foreign markets, with the information they need to explore cultural differences or with the opportunity to meet face to face with their overseas colleagues. The give and take of personal intercourse cannot come about over the Internet despite all of the wonders that new technology offers.

One organization that does provide for those needs is the International Insurance Society (IIS).

Established in 1965, IIS, in fact, was way ahead of its time. Founded as a nonprofit organization by John S. Bickley, emeritus professor of Insurance at the University of Alabama and the man who led the organization as its president from 1965 until 1989, the IIS is committed "to being a global resource for the worldwide insurance community, providing opportunities for executives and academics in insurance to make contacts, exchange ideas and obtain knowledge on a global scale," according to its president and chief executive officer, John Meyerholz.

Included in what the IIS offers to its members, according to Meyerholz, are annual seminars worldwide, insurance studies, research and reports, awards and research fellowships and possible entry into the Insurance Hall of Fame.

Says Kees Storm, chairman of Aegon NV, and chairman of the IIS board of directors, "Being a member of the IIS provides us with opportunities for our executives and decision makers to make new contacts, exchange ideas and obtain knowledge on local matters on a global scale. When leaders from global players like Aegon meet within IIS, unparalleled opportunities are created to connect to national markets and to get an insight into the increasingly sophisticated demands of the client.

"Agents and brokers will directly benefit from IIS member companies since that knowledge and those ideas, which lie at the heart of the product and sales developing process in today's insurance industry, are channeled on to them," Storm continues. "Competing in new innovative ways and maintaining best practices are vital prerequisites to providing cutting-edge products, now and in the future. Particularly in today's regulatory environment, in which governments are increasingly withdrawing their influence in the fields of social and old age provisions, those products and state-of-the-art distribution channels form a critical success factor to remain leading in the industry."

According to Meyerholz, "The Society offers a high-quality seminar each year in cooperation with leading insurance companies and organizations worldwide. On average, some 500 people from around the world attend these seminars. The seminars typically draw chief executive officers and senior corporate managers, leading academicians in insurance and others involved in the insurance industry. Over 20 chief executives, representing a variety of regions of the world and all branches of insurance, are invited to speak and participate on the program each year. Additionally," says Meyerholz, "academic presentations bring the most current ideas before the gathering, and group discussion sessions provide opportunities for cross-border exchanges."

The IIS president says that members and attendees at the seminars hear a "unique blend of practical business knowledge, coupled with academic insights." This is accomplished, he says, through group sessions on key issues moderated by business leaders and leading academics. "Furthermore," he continues, "each year the Society sponsors research awards for leading practical researchers in insurance who prepare papers on current issues and topics important to the world insurance community. Academic researchers are eligible to receive an award to cover the costs of development of important research."