http://www.propertycasualty360.com/2012/02/09/cios-as-revolutionaries-technology-spurring-change
No longer supporting players, Deloitte views CIOs as leaders in innovation.
By ROBERT REGIS HYLE, PROPERTYCASUALTY360.COM
February 9, 2012
In its 2012 Global Insurance Outlook, Deloitte Research insurance leader Sam Friedman issues an interesting description of technology leaders in the insurance industry. He describes their work as “revolutionary,” and points out the important decisions CIOs make today are less about software or reengineering processes than they are about transformation.
“CIOs are evolving into key players within the C-suite to develop and execute strategy,” he says. “They are expected to be transformational.”
Technology today is viewed as a way to change the business culture within an insurance company.
“Maybe it’s a culture that’s insulated in the sense they always do things in-house, work with existing systems, and adapt the best they can with the systems in place,” says Friedman. “Now [CIOs] are being asked to come up with more ambitious game plans to change the culture and the approach—and not just technologically, but from a business operations standpoint. Technology facilitates the business operation.”
The C-suite within an insurance company has expanded in the last few years, explains Friedman. The CEOs, CFOs, and COOs remain lead players, but newer titles—chief risk officers, chief information officers or chief technology officers—are playing important roles in the enterprise.
“Their roles are not simply to take marching orders from the C-suite and execute strategies,” he says. “They have a more influential seat at the table in terms of setting strategy, planning how that strategy will be executed, and having a say on what resources will be available—particularly outside resources like software and the people involved.”
Because so much technology today is being outsourced—in part because of the current growth in cloud computing—technology leaders need to perform a tremendous amount of due diligence, explains Friedman. Outsourcing requires carriers to put a great deal of faith in the infrastructure and the personnel from outside the organization.
Friedman concedes it is difficult to look at insurance CIOs as revolutionaries since the insurance has been known as a less than revolutionary type of business.
“Insurance tends to change slowly,” he says. “Product development is incremental. You don’t have the introduction of a revolutionary product that changes the landscape very often. Technology is an area where you can bring transformational change within insurance. The whole decision to outsource to a cloud is revolutionary to many insurance companies that either kept patching their legacy systems or kept reinventing the wheel in house.”
Social media is not viewed as a transformative tool and is mostly used as a marketing tool for insurance carriers to interact with policyholders on social networking sites such as Facebook. But Friedman believes IT leaders need to look at social media as a collaboration tool within an organization, particularly for multi-state or multi-national carriers where employees are not in the same office or even in the same country.
Friedman points out that at Deloitte, the social media site Yammer is becoming an important tool the research firm uses to conduct business day to day. Deloitte facilitates knowledge management by setting up internal Yammer sites to discuss issues in real time rather than brainstorming on a conference call.
“Why do that instead of using the telephone?” Friedman asks. “What we found is on a call someone is leading it and sometimes people are hesitant to speak out. The experience we’ve had with Yammer is people are much more interactive in the social media platform rather than on the telephone. There seems to be more content generated and information exchanged than on the phone or in a live meeting. [Workers] seem to be more open on the social media platform.”
Friedman believes the same thing is happening within insurance organizations. For example, the person in charge of distributor relations at a carrier could hold a session to deal with their independent agents to discuss a new product or a new twist on an existing product like telematics, or strategic planning for product development.
“Rather than having conference calls and live meetings, maybe it’s less expensive and perhaps more effective through social media,” he says. “There are many other services out there. The software itself is secondary. It’s really about transformation for the business operation. The CIO can lead that.”
Most insurers have a social media policy in place, but Friedman wonders how carriers are quantifying and benchmarking what they are accomplishing—particularly in contrast to their competition. Carriers need analytics tools to answer those questions.
“There’s work going on to try and solve [benchmarking issues] through advanced analytics, it’s just a matter of what the field of information is going to be and how it is weighed against the competition,” he says.
Analytics is the wave that is overcoming any sort of internal objections, points out Friedman.
“It’s such a natural transition to the business,” he says. “My only surprise is it’s taken so long to take off. It’s being heavily leveraged to red flag inflated or fraudulent claims. [Analytics] always had a strong element in underwriting and with smaller accounts you can leverage it to make decisions and save the underwriter’s expertise for more complex accounts.”
Friedman also is excited by the new hardware for agents and consumers: the smartphone.
“Think of all the things you can do from a smartphone,” he says. “It is the most insurance-friendly device invented in a long time.”
Policyholders can document an accident with a still photo or a video, write all the details of the accident on the phone’s memo function and email it to the insurance company, and go online through the an insurance app and the GPS function will tell them where the closest repair facility is located. Customers also can get quotes on their smartphone.
“It’s an amazing device,” says Friedman. “It can transform how an insurance company does business and it’s all under the CIOs purview.”
Many functions also are delivered for tablets. A life salesperson can sit down with a prospect and rather than printing out policy details or having the prospect hunch over and look at the laptop, they can present the policy to the customer on their tablet.
“This is the revolution being led by the CIOs,” says Friedman. “CIOs are the ones bringing these ideas to the C-suite and the board of directors to differentiate [the insurer] from the competition. CIOs are no longer just middle managers.”
Access Source And Its Great Content: http://www.propertycasualty360.com/2012/02/09/cios-as-revolutionaries-technology-spurring-change
Access Deloitte Insurance Outlook 2012: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCoQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.deloitte.com%2Fassets%2FDcom-Sweden%2FLocal%2520Assets%2FDocuments%2FDeloitte-FSI-Global-Insurance-Outlook-2012.pdf&ei=ryU1T8TzHOP00gGHq-HQCQ&usg=AFQjCNFL42xA35uXRtec-ztP-jBYqqHJdg&sig2=gm9ZBcYvVVST9uZkJTD1JA
Showing posts with label insurance industry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label insurance industry. Show all posts
Friday, February 10, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
National Study Reveals Customer Satisfaction Ratings for Insurers - Insurance News Net
Foster City, CA (PRWEB) January 11, 2012
A new national study of satisfaction ratings conducted by Insure.com provides a comprehensive view of how consumers feel about the largest auto, home, health and life insurance companies in the U.S.
In addition to the survey results, Insure.com has released a Best Insurance Companies tool which allows consumers to see how their insurer measures up against the competition when it comes to customer satisfaction. The tool breaks out five measurements of satisfaction:
Insure.com also awarded its “People’s Choice Award” to the three highest-scoring insurers in each line of business included in its study.
Best car insurance companies
Best life insurance companies
The rankings
Rank – Insurance Company – Overall Score out of 100
Auto insurance companies
1. USAA* 98.00
2. Auto-Owners Insurance* 85.82
3. Hartford Financial Services* 83.31
4. State Farm 80.50
5. 21st Century 79.28
6. Farmers 79.01
7. AAA 78.95
8. GMAC Insurance 78.56
9. Allstate 78.10
10. Travelers 77.57
11. GEICO 77.46
12. Erie Insurance 76.90
13. Liberty Mutual 76.14
14. Country Insurance 75.89
15. Nationwide 74.68
16. American Family 74.05
17. Progressive 73.69
18. Mercury General 72.05
19. MetLife 72.01
20. Esurance 71.19
Home insurance companies
1. USAA* 98.11
2. Amica Mutual* 97.67
3. Chubb* 92.19
4. Erie Insurance 88.72
5. Country Insurance 85.75
6. AAA 84.66
7. Nationwide 83.53
8. State Farm 82.34
9. MetLife 81.68
10. 21st Century 80.79
11. The Hartford 80.44
12. Travelers 79.79
13. Liberty Mutual 79.03
14. Farmers 78.71
15. Allstate 78.55
16. Auto-Owners Insurance 78.48
17. American Family 77.10
18. Universal Property & Casualty 75.05
19. Fireman's Fund 73.66
20. Citizens Property Insurance 64.15
Life insurance companies
1. Ameriprise Financial* 90.90
2. TIAA-CREF Life Insurance* 88.58
3. Transamerica* 81.28
4. Northwestern Mutual 81.23
5. New York Life 80.36
6. Pacific Life 79.99
7. Massachusetts Mutual 79.62
8. MetLife 79.39
9. Allstate 78.94
10. Prudential Financial 78.64
11. Principal 77.59
12. John Hancock 77.02
13. Hartford Life 73.75
14. AXA Equitble 73.58
15. Great-West Life 73.05
16. Jackson National 71.80
17. American General 70.86
18. ING Life Insurance 69.32
19. Lincoln National 68.12
20. Aviva Life Insurance 59.94
Health insurance companies
1. BCBS of Illinois* 84.74
2. Horizon BCBS of NJ* 84.52
3. Kaiser Permanente* 84.45
4. Highmark BCBS 82.27
5. Regence BCBS 82.17
6. Humana 81.87
7. BCBS of Massachusetts 81.46
8. Independence BCBS 81.33
9. CareFirst BCBS 80.24
10. UnitedHealthcare 79.23
11. BCBS of Florida 78.70
12. Anthem BCBS 78.29
13. Aetna 77.78
14. CIGNA 76.17
15. Coventry Health Care 73.19
16. Aetna Life (Dental, Etc.) 72.48
17. Health Net 71.91
18. Assurant 60.85
19. Blue Shield of California 59.20
• Indicates the company is an Insure.com "People's Choice Award" winner.
Methodology
Insure.com surveyed more than 4,500 insurance customers between February and August 2011 for customer service ratings and reviews. The survey included the top companies by market share, but not all large companies may be represented due to lack of data. The top three companies in each category earned Insure.com’s “People’s Choice Award.”
Insure.com makes reviews freely available via this site. The views and opinions expressed by users do not reflect the views and opinions of Insure.com. Insure.com expressly disclaims any and all liability in connection with the content of any reviews.
About Insure.com Insure.com is a comprehensive resource of consumer insurance information and data. The website features articles, news and tools on auto, home, health and life insurance topics, life insurance quotes, and car insurance comparison tools. Consumers have access to free car insurance quotes and guidance on finding the right insurance policy, saving money and solving claims problems. Insure.com is owned and operated by QuinStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ: QNST), one of the largest Internet marketing and media companies in the world. QuinStreet is committed to providing consumers and businesses with the information they need to research, find and select the products, services and brands that best meet their needs. The company is a leader in visitor-friendly marketing practices. For more information, please visit QuinStreet.com.
Press contact:
Amy Danise
860-386-6446
adanise(at)insure(dot)com
Access Source And Its Great Content: http://insurancenewsnet.com/article.aspx?id=325643&type=lifehealth&inl=1
A new national study of satisfaction ratings conducted by Insure.com provides a comprehensive view of how consumers feel about the largest auto, home, health and life insurance companies in the U.S.
In addition to the survey results, Insure.com has released a Best Insurance Companies tool which allows consumers to see how their insurer measures up against the competition when it comes to customer satisfaction. The tool breaks out five measurements of satisfaction:
1.Customer service“This is an in-depth resource for consumers who are considering their insurance options,” said Amy Danise, Insure.com’s Editorial Director. “Our analysis lets consumers gain valuable insight into how the major companies are performing on five important levels of customer satisfaction.”
2.Claims experience
3.Value for the price paid
4.Percent who plan to renew their policies
5.Percent who would recommend their companies
Insure.com also awarded its “People’s Choice Award” to the three highest-scoring insurers in each line of business included in its study.
Best car insurance companies
1.USAABest home insurance companies
2.Auto-Owners Insurance
3.The Hartford
1.USAA
2.Amica Mutual
3.Chubb
Best life insurance companies
1.Ameriprise FinancialBest health insurance companies
2.TIAA-CREF
3.Transamerica
1.Blue Cross Blue Shield of IllinoisInsure.com’s analysis of the customer ratings revealed that insurance consumers are generally satisfied with their companies:
2.Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey
3.Kaiser Permanente
• Most consumers are “completely” or “somewhat” satisfied with their auto insurers’ customer service.
•73 percent are satisfied with home insurance customer service.
•63 percent are satisfied with their life insurers’ customer service.
•61 percent are satisfied with their health insurance customer service.For complete details and to use Insure.com’s Best Insurance Companies tool to explore customer satisfaction ratings, visit http://www.insure.com/best-insurance-companies.html.
•70 percent say they have recommended or would recommend their auto insurance company. In other categories, people who have recommended or would recommend their insurers totaled 67 percent for home insurance, 58 percent for health insurance and 50 percent for health insurance.
The rankings
Rank – Insurance Company – Overall Score out of 100
Auto insurance companies
1. USAA* 98.00
2. Auto-Owners Insurance* 85.82
3. Hartford Financial Services* 83.31
4. State Farm 80.50
5. 21st Century 79.28
6. Farmers 79.01
7. AAA 78.95
8. GMAC Insurance 78.56
9. Allstate 78.10
10. Travelers 77.57
11. GEICO 77.46
12. Erie Insurance 76.90
13. Liberty Mutual 76.14
14. Country Insurance 75.89
15. Nationwide 74.68
16. American Family 74.05
17. Progressive 73.69
18. Mercury General 72.05
19. MetLife 72.01
20. Esurance 71.19
Home insurance companies
1. USAA* 98.11
2. Amica Mutual* 97.67
3. Chubb* 92.19
4. Erie Insurance 88.72
5. Country Insurance 85.75
6. AAA 84.66
7. Nationwide 83.53
8. State Farm 82.34
9. MetLife 81.68
10. 21st Century 80.79
11. The Hartford 80.44
12. Travelers 79.79
13. Liberty Mutual 79.03
14. Farmers 78.71
15. Allstate 78.55
16. Auto-Owners Insurance 78.48
17. American Family 77.10
18. Universal Property & Casualty 75.05
19. Fireman's Fund 73.66
20. Citizens Property Insurance 64.15
Life insurance companies
1. Ameriprise Financial* 90.90
2. TIAA-CREF Life Insurance* 88.58
3. Transamerica* 81.28
4. Northwestern Mutual 81.23
5. New York Life 80.36
6. Pacific Life 79.99
7. Massachusetts Mutual 79.62
8. MetLife 79.39
9. Allstate 78.94
10. Prudential Financial 78.64
11. Principal 77.59
12. John Hancock 77.02
13. Hartford Life 73.75
14. AXA Equitble 73.58
15. Great-West Life 73.05
16. Jackson National 71.80
17. American General 70.86
18. ING Life Insurance 69.32
19. Lincoln National 68.12
20. Aviva Life Insurance 59.94
Health insurance companies
1. BCBS of Illinois* 84.74
2. Horizon BCBS of NJ* 84.52
3. Kaiser Permanente* 84.45
4. Highmark BCBS 82.27
5. Regence BCBS 82.17
6. Humana 81.87
7. BCBS of Massachusetts 81.46
8. Independence BCBS 81.33
9. CareFirst BCBS 80.24
10. UnitedHealthcare 79.23
11. BCBS of Florida 78.70
12. Anthem BCBS 78.29
13. Aetna 77.78
14. CIGNA 76.17
15. Coventry Health Care 73.19
16. Aetna Life (Dental, Etc.) 72.48
17. Health Net 71.91
18. Assurant 60.85
19. Blue Shield of California 59.20
• Indicates the company is an Insure.com "People's Choice Award" winner.
Methodology
Insure.com surveyed more than 4,500 insurance customers between February and August 2011 for customer service ratings and reviews. The survey included the top companies by market share, but not all large companies may be represented due to lack of data. The top three companies in each category earned Insure.com’s “People’s Choice Award.”
Insure.com makes reviews freely available via this site. The views and opinions expressed by users do not reflect the views and opinions of Insure.com. Insure.com expressly disclaims any and all liability in connection with the content of any reviews.
About Insure.com Insure.com is a comprehensive resource of consumer insurance information and data. The website features articles, news and tools on auto, home, health and life insurance topics, life insurance quotes, and car insurance comparison tools. Consumers have access to free car insurance quotes and guidance on finding the right insurance policy, saving money and solving claims problems. Insure.com is owned and operated by QuinStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ: QNST), one of the largest Internet marketing and media companies in the world. QuinStreet is committed to providing consumers and businesses with the information they need to research, find and select the products, services and brands that best meet their needs. The company is a leader in visitor-friendly marketing practices. For more information, please visit QuinStreet.com.
Press contact:
Amy Danise
860-386-6446
adanise(at)insure(dot)com
Access Source And Its Great Content: http://insurancenewsnet.com/article.aspx?id=325643&type=lifehealth&inl=1
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Trust Barometer 2011
Trust Barometer 2011
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http://dreamlearndobecome.blogspot.com This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
2011 Edelman Trust Barometer® Key Findings Presentation
Edelman's 2011 Trust Barometer®, the firm’s 11th annual survey, gauges attitudes about the state of trust in business, government, NGOs and media across 23 countries.
Note From Jim Jacobs: This short slide presentation is fascinating and has significant implications for our businesses. In the 2011 survey, insurance companies fall among the lowest ranked industries when it comes to trust (See presentation page 13).
Access Content Source: http://www.edelman.com/trust/2011/
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http://dreamlearndobecome.blogspot.com This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Insurance Takeovers Head for Biggest Year Since Peak of M&A Boom in 2007 - Bloomberg
Insurance Takeovers Head for Biggest Year Since Peak of M&A Boom in 2007 - Bloomberg
Insurance takeovers are headed for the biggest year since the peak of the last merger boom as financial-services firms from Bank of America Corp. to Aegon NV of the Netherlands jettison assets.
Deals in the industry have jumped 60 percent to $44.8 billion so far this year, up from $28 billion in the same period of 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Bank of America, Aegon and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc have more than $10 billion in insurance assets currently on the block.
The financial crisis that crippled American International Group Inc. is providing a buying opportunity for competitors such as MetLife Inc. and Prudential Financial Inc., which were quicker to recover from the global recession and are seeking growth in new markets. AIG has sold more than 30 assets since its 2008 bailout, while RBS and Amsterdam-based ING Groep NV were told to sell insurance businesses as conditions of their government lifelines.
“There’s a lot of stuff on the market,” said Clark Troy, a senior analyst at researcher Aite Group LLC in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. “For deep-pocketed buyers with firm conviction, it’s a great time to be making acquisitions.”
While the year’s biggest insurance deal collapsed when Prudential Plc shareholders stymied the company’s planned $35.5 billion takeover of AIG’s biggest Asian unit in June, the total value of announced deals is still set to surpass 2008 and 2009, when there were $58 billion and $53 billion in takeovers, respectively, Bloomberg data show. That tally excludes a $40 billion U.S. government infusion into AIG in 2008.
Insurance transactions totaled $90 billion in 2007.
‘Hard Choices’
AIG, which is working to repay part of a $182.3 billion government bailout, has held talks with Newark, New Jersey-based Prudential Financial this year about selling two Japanese life insurance units, said two people with knowledge of the matter.
Prudential and AIG still have divergent views on the value of AIG’s Star Life and Edison Life units, said the people, who declined to be identified because the discussions are private. The divisions together had a book value of $4.8 billion as of June 30, AIG said in a regulatory filing.
Mark Herr, an AIG spokesman, and Robert DeFillippo, a spokesman for Prudential, declined to comment.
Insurers that were bailed out are being forced into “making hard decisions about where they want to play and where they don’t,” said Achim Bauer, an insurance partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers in London. “They are seeking to repay some of that money by selling businesses that are non-core.”
ING, RBS
ING is required to divest its insurance business by the end of 2013 as part of a restructuring plan to win European Union approval for its government rescue. While the company is preparing the business for one or two initial public offerings, ING is getting “a great deal of interest” from potential buyers, Chief Executive Officer Jan Hommen said on Aug. 11.
RBS agreed in November to unload its insurance businesses, including the Direct Line auto insurer, after receiving 25.5 billion pounds ($40 billion) of state aid. In 2008, RBS had sought as much as 5 billion pounds for the businesses.
Some asset sales are being driven by regulatory changes in the wake of the financial crisis, including the recent U.S. financial overhaul and reforms being contemplated by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, said David Havens, an analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc. in New York.
Bank of America, the largest U.S. lender, is being pushed by regulators to raise a net $3 billion this year. The bank’s Balboa Insurance unit, obtained as part of the Countrywide Financial Corp. acquisition in 2008, is likely to fetch roughly the amount of its policyholder surplus, which was $1.92 billion as of March 31, according to Havens.
More Capital
“The financial regulations in general are requiring firms to hold more capital, and you can achieve that concept either by raising more capital or reducing risk,” Havens said. “By selling off non-core units you can actually achieve both.
Aegon’s Transamerica Reinsurance unit, which helps life insurers pool their risks, has gotten interest from both competitors and investors, said Aegon CEO Alexander Wynaendts on an Aug. 12 conference call. It has book value, or assets minus liabilities, of 1.6 billion euros ($2 billion). Reinsurance Group of America Inc., the largest U.S. company that focuses on life reinsurance, trades at about 73 percent of book value, implying a value for Transamerica of $1.5 billion.
Some potential buyers, meanwhile, are seeking to free up their capital reserves to fund growth in faster-growing markets like Asia. Paris-based Axa SA, Europe’s second-biggest insurer, agreed in June to sell part of its U.K. life insurance unit to Clive Cowdery’s Resolution Ltd. for 2.75 billion pounds.
MetLife, based in New York, made the biggest purchase of an insurer this year when it agreed to buy AIG’s American Life Insurance Co. for $15.5 billion.
Deals are happening because there is “a greater level of stability in the system compared to where we were six or 12 months ago,” said Bauer at PricewaterhouseCoopers. “That provides a greater willingness on the part of both buyers and sellers to consider transactions.”
********************************************************
http://dreamlearndobecome.blogspot.com This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Bloomberg
Insurance Takeovers Head for Biggest Year Since Peak of M&A Boom in 2007
By -
Aug 27, 2010 12:01 AM ET
Aug 27, 2010 12:01 AM ET
Insurance takeovers are headed for the biggest year since the peak of the last merger boom as financial-services firms from Bank of America Corp. to Aegon NV of the Netherlands jettison assets.
Deals in the industry have jumped 60 percent to $44.8 billion so far this year, up from $28 billion in the same period of 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Bank of America, Aegon and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc have more than $10 billion in insurance assets currently on the block.
The financial crisis that crippled American International Group Inc. is providing a buying opportunity for competitors such as MetLife Inc. and Prudential Financial Inc., which were quicker to recover from the global recession and are seeking growth in new markets. AIG has sold more than 30 assets since its 2008 bailout, while RBS and Amsterdam-based ING Groep NV were told to sell insurance businesses as conditions of their government lifelines.
“There’s a lot of stuff on the market,” said Clark Troy, a senior analyst at researcher Aite Group LLC in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. “For deep-pocketed buyers with firm conviction, it’s a great time to be making acquisitions.”
While the year’s biggest insurance deal collapsed when Prudential Plc shareholders stymied the company’s planned $35.5 billion takeover of AIG’s biggest Asian unit in June, the total value of announced deals is still set to surpass 2008 and 2009, when there were $58 billion and $53 billion in takeovers, respectively, Bloomberg data show. That tally excludes a $40 billion U.S. government infusion into AIG in 2008.
Insurance transactions totaled $90 billion in 2007.
‘Hard Choices’
AIG, which is working to repay part of a $182.3 billion government bailout, has held talks with Newark, New Jersey-based Prudential Financial this year about selling two Japanese life insurance units, said two people with knowledge of the matter.
Prudential and AIG still have divergent views on the value of AIG’s Star Life and Edison Life units, said the people, who declined to be identified because the discussions are private. The divisions together had a book value of $4.8 billion as of June 30, AIG said in a regulatory filing.
Mark Herr, an AIG spokesman, and Robert DeFillippo, a spokesman for Prudential, declined to comment.
Insurers that were bailed out are being forced into “making hard decisions about where they want to play and where they don’t,” said Achim Bauer, an insurance partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers in London. “They are seeking to repay some of that money by selling businesses that are non-core.”
ING, RBS
ING is required to divest its insurance business by the end of 2013 as part of a restructuring plan to win European Union approval for its government rescue. While the company is preparing the business for one or two initial public offerings, ING is getting “a great deal of interest” from potential buyers, Chief Executive Officer Jan Hommen said on Aug. 11.
RBS agreed in November to unload its insurance businesses, including the Direct Line auto insurer, after receiving 25.5 billion pounds ($40 billion) of state aid. In 2008, RBS had sought as much as 5 billion pounds for the businesses.
Some asset sales are being driven by regulatory changes in the wake of the financial crisis, including the recent U.S. financial overhaul and reforms being contemplated by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, said David Havens, an analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc. in New York.
Bank of America, the largest U.S. lender, is being pushed by regulators to raise a net $3 billion this year. The bank’s Balboa Insurance unit, obtained as part of the Countrywide Financial Corp. acquisition in 2008, is likely to fetch roughly the amount of its policyholder surplus, which was $1.92 billion as of March 31, according to Havens.
More Capital
“The financial regulations in general are requiring firms to hold more capital, and you can achieve that concept either by raising more capital or reducing risk,” Havens said. “By selling off non-core units you can actually achieve both.
Aegon’s Transamerica Reinsurance unit, which helps life insurers pool their risks, has gotten interest from both competitors and investors, said Aegon CEO Alexander Wynaendts on an Aug. 12 conference call. It has book value, or assets minus liabilities, of 1.6 billion euros ($2 billion). Reinsurance Group of America Inc., the largest U.S. company that focuses on life reinsurance, trades at about 73 percent of book value, implying a value for Transamerica of $1.5 billion.
Some potential buyers, meanwhile, are seeking to free up their capital reserves to fund growth in faster-growing markets like Asia. Paris-based Axa SA, Europe’s second-biggest insurer, agreed in June to sell part of its U.K. life insurance unit to Clive Cowdery’s Resolution Ltd. for 2.75 billion pounds.
MetLife, based in New York, made the biggest purchase of an insurer this year when it agreed to buy AIG’s American Life Insurance Co. for $15.5 billion.
Deals are happening because there is “a greater level of stability in the system compared to where we were six or 12 months ago,” said Bauer at PricewaterhouseCoopers. “That provides a greater willingness on the part of both buyers and sellers to consider transactions.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Zachary R. Mider in New York at zmider1@bloomberg.net
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http://dreamlearndobecome.blogspot.com This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Ken Auletta: 10 things Google has taught us - Oct. 26, 2009
Ken Auletta: 10 things Google has taught us - Oct. 26, 2009
CNN Monday; Fortune 10/26/2009
Fortune >
10 things Google has taught us <
What makes it so revolutionary? <
Ken Auletta, author of a new book on the company, shares his insights on why it's uniquely successful and what that means for the media world >
By Ken Auletta, contributor<>
NEW YORK (Fortune) -- In researching his new book, Googled: the End of the World as We Know It, to be published next week by Penguin Press, author Ken Auletta had extensive access to the company's inner workings and reported widely on its impact on the media landscape.>
In a Fortune.com exclusive, he offers ten enduring lessons dawn from his journey into Google's realm: >
1.) Passion wins >
Start with the words of advice -- "Don't settle" -- that Larry Page offered the Stanford graduating class in 2002. This intensity was revealed in the zeal with which he and Sergey Brin inspired the entire company to "serve the user," to take more risks, to radically improve search. >
Or as CEO Eric Schmidt told me: while he assumed that "Google would be an important company; the founders always assumed that Google would be a defining company." >
A moment after venture capitalist Michael Moritz finished describing Google as "a rare" company, I asked Moritz, an early investor in both Yahoo and Google (GOOG, Fortune 500), whether he felt the same enthusiasm for Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500). >
He winced, hesitated, then finally said: "Yahoo is a company I've been close to for a long time and feel a lot of affection and loyalty towards. But within the first 18 months to two years of being associated with Google, I began to understand this was a very different company than Yahoo. It was rooted in the studies of the founders. Google was built on a foundation of Larry's and Sergey's intellectual pursuits. Yahoo was built on the foundations of Jerry's and David's interests. And there's a big gulf between those two." >
That deficit of passion, he suggested, was a reason that Jerry Yang and David Filo chose not to be fully engaged full-time with the company they created.>
2.) Focus is required >
Passion without focus can lead you astray. Bill Campbell, chairman of Intuit and a Silicon Valley mentor who spends a couple of days each week at Google, thinks the key to Google's success is "focused passion." He credits Schmidt for bringing a focus to the founders. >
In an interview with Betsy Morris of Fortune, Steve Jobs offered an interesting and, typically, upside-down perspective on focus: "People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the 100 other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I'm actually as proud of the many things we haven't done as the things we have done." >
Media mogul Barry Diller, who had an unsettling session with Page and Brin in the early days of Google, when Page would not look up from his PDA to talk to him, now thinks what might be construed as rudeness was really focus. >
"They had their own method of communicating and processing," Diller said. "They give much less quarter than other people do to common business courtesies. They've stayed true to this. It's a spectacular strength. It means you never get de-focused by the crowd." >
3.) Vision is required too >
Without vision, even the most focused passion is a battery without a device. "Don't be evil" is a vague incantation. But Page and Brin's effort to make "all the world's information available,"and to first and foremost serve users, is a vision. >
It's one that successfully drove Google to index the Web, make news and books searchable, treat ads as information and to reject dollars if the ads were not "relevant," help users search for the best or cheapest products, find simple travel directions, store and search their e-mail, and share calendar information. >
Such a vision does not come from survey research. In his 2005 speech to graduating engineers at the University of Michigan, Page told them they didn't have to go to business school. He said he had read an entire shelf of business books when he was younger, and among the lessons he learned was that "many of the amazing insights that happen in business actually come from people who really aren't in the business." >
4.) A team culture is vital >
Google's allocation of 20% of employee time to projects of their own choice give them a sense of proprietorship. True to its open-source, wisdom-of-the-crowd ideals, Google has created a networked management that functions from the bottom-up as well as the top-down. In both directions, it unleashes ideas and effort. >
As Larry Page astutely observes: "There is a pattern in companies, even in technological companies, that the people who do the work -- the engineers, the programmers, the foot soldiers if you will -- typically get rolled over by the management ... you end up kind of demoralized. You want to have a culture where the people who are doing the work, the scientists and the engineers, are empowered. And that they are managed by people who deeply understand what they are doing." >
5.) Treat engineers as kings >
For most Valley companies, engineers are the equivalent of the television writer, the movie director, the book author. They are the creators. The 20% time Google grants its engineers gives them a sense that they are liberated to take risks, to follow their passions.>
Innovation, as Bill Campbell told The McKinsey Quarterly, comes when "the crazy guys have stature, where engineers really are important.... empowered engineers are the single most important thing that you can have in a company.">
It is no accident that Page and Brin and Schmidt spend so many hours each week in meetings with engineers. For most traditional media companies, the engineer is less central. >
However, as digital is now part of the mainstream, and as older media companies struggle to master its challenges, they would do well to heed the advice Google's David Eun offers: Don't do what these companies traditionally do and stick "the geeks in a corner." Instead, CEO's should have at their elbow "a top Chief Technical Officer." >
6.) Treat customers like a king >
An important reason Google is usually listed among the world's most trusted brands is that it conveys a sense that the user comes first. Advertising may produce 97% of Google's revenues, but to a user it doesn't feel that way. Google services are free, and they're user friendly, just as an iPod is. >
The lessons Larry Page took away from reading Donald A. Norman's The Design of Everyday Things while a graduate student at Stanford, helped shape Google's approach to its customers. Or as Page said, "Having an attitude that your customer or users are always right, and your goal is to build systems that work for them in a natural way, is a good attitude to have." >
To understand how Google earned the trust of its users, go back to its 2004 IPO. Again and again it referred to the users as sacrosanct: "We believe that our user focus is the foundation of our success to date. We also believe that this focus is critical for the creation of long-term value. We do not intend to compromise our user focus for short-term economic gain." >
By focusing on the user, Page and Brin provided an organizing principle for Google employees that echoed Sam Walton's adage: " 'If you don't listen to your customers, someone else will.'" >
7.) Every company is a frenemy >
What Lord Palmerston said of nations applies as well to corporations: There are no permanent allies, only permanent interests. A medium like the internet blurs the borders between companies, sometimes making it more difficult to sight a potential rival or to distinguish between ally and foe. >
Google started as a search engine, but quickly realized it could efficiently sell ads or aggregate news or search books or use its infrastructure to create cloud computing or expand into video by acquiring YouTube or expand into mobile devices. >
At the same time, Google's AdSense helps newspapers by supplying them with ad dollars; AdWords partners with ad agencies to sell products; YouTube is a coveted promotional platform for the television networks; Android software supplies an operating system for more than a few mobile telephone companies. >
These horizontal ambitions, coupled with the fears aroused by the speed of technological change, inevitably frays the bond of trust among companies. Most companies become frenemies, both cooperating and competing. >
8.) Don't ignore the human factor >
As a journalist, the deeper one burrows, the more complicated narratives and the people who populate them usually become. Among the enduring truths I keep bumping into when there is the luxury of time to get to know people or institutions, is that their decisions are often made for what are not, strictly speaking, reasons of logic. These can be ascribed to human factors. How to measure wisdom, judgment, sensitivity, relationships? >
Google has been wise in winning the trust of its users, in building a team culture, and in thinking long-term. But when you start from a blanket assumption that the old ways of doing things are probably wrong, as Google does, you're bound to make unwise mistakes. >
Page was unwise to assume Google could immediately digitize all books, just as Google was wrong to assume that it could devise formulas to better sell ads for newspapers and broadcast radio, two efforts it has since abandoned. Google has not always been wise in avoiding battles, in being insensitive to copyright, or privacy, or the concerns of government. >
9.) There are no certitudes >
Today, Google appears impregnable. But a decade ago so did AOL, and so did the combination of AOL Time Warner. >
"There is nothing about their model that makes them invulnerable," Clayton Christensen, the Harvard business historian and author of the seminal, The Innovators Dilemma, told me. "Think IBM. They had a 70% market share of mainframe computers. Then the government decided to challenge them. Then the PC emerged." >
Seemingly overnight, computing moved from mainframes to PCs. "Lots of companies are successful and are applauded by the financial community," Christensen said. "Then their stock price stalls because they are no longer surprising investors with their growth. So they strive to grow but forget the principles that made them great -- getting into the market quickly, not throwing money at the wrong thing. When you have so much money you become so patient that you wait too long. Look at Microsoft. No one can fault them for not investing in growth ideas. But none of these have grown up to be the next Windows." >
Maybe, Christensen added, we are now beginning to "see this at Google." The company has poured money into YouTube and Android and cloud computing, but has yet "to figure out the business model for each." >
10.) "Life is long but time is short." >
The words belong to Eric Schmidt, who explained: "Life is long in the sense that we have long memories. Time is short in that you have to move very quickly. But to me the most important thing to know is that life has a way of working things out. We forget so quickly what the problem was three or four years ago. So my personal view of life is that every problem is an opportunity." >
This is a reason to think and act boldly, as Google has, to take risks, and not to be anchored down by "long memories." >
Find this article at: http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/22/technology/auletta_maxims.fortune/index.htm
© 2007 Cable News Network LP, LLP.
***********************************************************************
http://dreamlearndobecome.blogspot.com This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
CNN Monday; Fortune 10/26/2009
Fortune >
10 things Google has taught us <
What makes it so revolutionary? <
Ken Auletta, author of a new book on the company, shares his insights on why it's uniquely successful and what that means for the media world >
By Ken Auletta, contributor<>
NEW YORK (Fortune) -- In researching his new book, Googled: the End of the World as We Know It, to be published next week by Penguin Press, author Ken Auletta had extensive access to the company's inner workings and reported widely on its impact on the media landscape.>
In a Fortune.com exclusive, he offers ten enduring lessons dawn from his journey into Google's realm: >
1.) Passion wins >
Start with the words of advice -- "Don't settle" -- that Larry Page offered the Stanford graduating class in 2002. This intensity was revealed in the zeal with which he and Sergey Brin inspired the entire company to "serve the user," to take more risks, to radically improve search. >
Or as CEO Eric Schmidt told me: while he assumed that "Google would be an important company; the founders always assumed that Google would be a defining company." >
A moment after venture capitalist Michael Moritz finished describing Google as "a rare" company, I asked Moritz, an early investor in both Yahoo and Google (GOOG, Fortune 500), whether he felt the same enthusiasm for Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500). >
He winced, hesitated, then finally said: "Yahoo is a company I've been close to for a long time and feel a lot of affection and loyalty towards. But within the first 18 months to two years of being associated with Google, I began to understand this was a very different company than Yahoo. It was rooted in the studies of the founders. Google was built on a foundation of Larry's and Sergey's intellectual pursuits. Yahoo was built on the foundations of Jerry's and David's interests. And there's a big gulf between those two." >
That deficit of passion, he suggested, was a reason that Jerry Yang and David Filo chose not to be fully engaged full-time with the company they created.>
2.) Focus is required >
Passion without focus can lead you astray. Bill Campbell, chairman of Intuit and a Silicon Valley mentor who spends a couple of days each week at Google, thinks the key to Google's success is "focused passion." He credits Schmidt for bringing a focus to the founders. >
In an interview with Betsy Morris of Fortune, Steve Jobs offered an interesting and, typically, upside-down perspective on focus: "People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the 100 other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I'm actually as proud of the many things we haven't done as the things we have done." >
Media mogul Barry Diller, who had an unsettling session with Page and Brin in the early days of Google, when Page would not look up from his PDA to talk to him, now thinks what might be construed as rudeness was really focus. >
"They had their own method of communicating and processing," Diller said. "They give much less quarter than other people do to common business courtesies. They've stayed true to this. It's a spectacular strength. It means you never get de-focused by the crowd." >
3.) Vision is required too >
Without vision, even the most focused passion is a battery without a device. "Don't be evil" is a vague incantation. But Page and Brin's effort to make "all the world's information available,"and to first and foremost serve users, is a vision. >
It's one that successfully drove Google to index the Web, make news and books searchable, treat ads as information and to reject dollars if the ads were not "relevant," help users search for the best or cheapest products, find simple travel directions, store and search their e-mail, and share calendar information. >
Such a vision does not come from survey research. In his 2005 speech to graduating engineers at the University of Michigan, Page told them they didn't have to go to business school. He said he had read an entire shelf of business books when he was younger, and among the lessons he learned was that "many of the amazing insights that happen in business actually come from people who really aren't in the business." >
4.) A team culture is vital >
Google's allocation of 20% of employee time to projects of their own choice give them a sense of proprietorship. True to its open-source, wisdom-of-the-crowd ideals, Google has created a networked management that functions from the bottom-up as well as the top-down. In both directions, it unleashes ideas and effort. >
As Larry Page astutely observes: "There is a pattern in companies, even in technological companies, that the people who do the work -- the engineers, the programmers, the foot soldiers if you will -- typically get rolled over by the management ... you end up kind of demoralized. You want to have a culture where the people who are doing the work, the scientists and the engineers, are empowered. And that they are managed by people who deeply understand what they are doing." >
5.) Treat engineers as kings >
For most Valley companies, engineers are the equivalent of the television writer, the movie director, the book author. They are the creators. The 20% time Google grants its engineers gives them a sense that they are liberated to take risks, to follow their passions.>
Innovation, as Bill Campbell told The McKinsey Quarterly, comes when "the crazy guys have stature, where engineers really are important.... empowered engineers are the single most important thing that you can have in a company.">
It is no accident that Page and Brin and Schmidt spend so many hours each week in meetings with engineers. For most traditional media companies, the engineer is less central. >
However, as digital is now part of the mainstream, and as older media companies struggle to master its challenges, they would do well to heed the advice Google's David Eun offers: Don't do what these companies traditionally do and stick "the geeks in a corner." Instead, CEO's should have at their elbow "a top Chief Technical Officer." >
6.) Treat customers like a king >
An important reason Google is usually listed among the world's most trusted brands is that it conveys a sense that the user comes first. Advertising may produce 97% of Google's revenues, but to a user it doesn't feel that way. Google services are free, and they're user friendly, just as an iPod is. >
The lessons Larry Page took away from reading Donald A. Norman's The Design of Everyday Things while a graduate student at Stanford, helped shape Google's approach to its customers. Or as Page said, "Having an attitude that your customer or users are always right, and your goal is to build systems that work for them in a natural way, is a good attitude to have." >
To understand how Google earned the trust of its users, go back to its 2004 IPO. Again and again it referred to the users as sacrosanct: "We believe that our user focus is the foundation of our success to date. We also believe that this focus is critical for the creation of long-term value. We do not intend to compromise our user focus for short-term economic gain." >
By focusing on the user, Page and Brin provided an organizing principle for Google employees that echoed Sam Walton's adage: " 'If you don't listen to your customers, someone else will.'" >
7.) Every company is a frenemy >
What Lord Palmerston said of nations applies as well to corporations: There are no permanent allies, only permanent interests. A medium like the internet blurs the borders between companies, sometimes making it more difficult to sight a potential rival or to distinguish between ally and foe. >
Google started as a search engine, but quickly realized it could efficiently sell ads or aggregate news or search books or use its infrastructure to create cloud computing or expand into video by acquiring YouTube or expand into mobile devices. >
At the same time, Google's AdSense helps newspapers by supplying them with ad dollars; AdWords partners with ad agencies to sell products; YouTube is a coveted promotional platform for the television networks; Android software supplies an operating system for more than a few mobile telephone companies. >
These horizontal ambitions, coupled with the fears aroused by the speed of technological change, inevitably frays the bond of trust among companies. Most companies become frenemies, both cooperating and competing. >
8.) Don't ignore the human factor >
As a journalist, the deeper one burrows, the more complicated narratives and the people who populate them usually become. Among the enduring truths I keep bumping into when there is the luxury of time to get to know people or institutions, is that their decisions are often made for what are not, strictly speaking, reasons of logic. These can be ascribed to human factors. How to measure wisdom, judgment, sensitivity, relationships? >
Google has been wise in winning the trust of its users, in building a team culture, and in thinking long-term. But when you start from a blanket assumption that the old ways of doing things are probably wrong, as Google does, you're bound to make unwise mistakes. >
Page was unwise to assume Google could immediately digitize all books, just as Google was wrong to assume that it could devise formulas to better sell ads for newspapers and broadcast radio, two efforts it has since abandoned. Google has not always been wise in avoiding battles, in being insensitive to copyright, or privacy, or the concerns of government. >
9.) There are no certitudes >
Today, Google appears impregnable. But a decade ago so did AOL, and so did the combination of AOL Time Warner. >
"There is nothing about their model that makes them invulnerable," Clayton Christensen, the Harvard business historian and author of the seminal, The Innovators Dilemma, told me. "Think IBM. They had a 70% market share of mainframe computers. Then the government decided to challenge them. Then the PC emerged." >
Seemingly overnight, computing moved from mainframes to PCs. "Lots of companies are successful and are applauded by the financial community," Christensen said. "Then their stock price stalls because they are no longer surprising investors with their growth. So they strive to grow but forget the principles that made them great -- getting into the market quickly, not throwing money at the wrong thing. When you have so much money you become so patient that you wait too long. Look at Microsoft. No one can fault them for not investing in growth ideas. But none of these have grown up to be the next Windows." >
Maybe, Christensen added, we are now beginning to "see this at Google." The company has poured money into YouTube and Android and cloud computing, but has yet "to figure out the business model for each." >
10.) "Life is long but time is short." >
The words belong to Eric Schmidt, who explained: "Life is long in the sense that we have long memories. Time is short in that you have to move very quickly. But to me the most important thing to know is that life has a way of working things out. We forget so quickly what the problem was three or four years ago. So my personal view of life is that every problem is an opportunity." >
This is a reason to think and act boldly, as Google has, to take risks, and not to be anchored down by "long memories." >
Find this article at: http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/22/technology/auletta_maxims.fortune/index.htm
© 2007 Cable News Network LP, LLP.
***********************************************************************
http://dreamlearndobecome.blogspot.com This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
EARNINGS PREVIEW:US Property Insurers Expect Rising 3Q Earnings - WSJ.com
EARNINGS PREVIEW:US Property Insurers Expect Rising 3Q Earnings - WSJ.com
***********************************************************************
http://dreamlearndobecome.blogspot.com This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
***********************************************************************
http://dreamlearndobecome.blogspot.com This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Impact Of Financial Crisis Poses Greatest Threat To Insurance Industry - Ernst & Young Report Highlights Top 10 Risks For Insurers
InsuranceBroadcasting.Com
Thursday, 06/25/09
Impact Of Financial Crisis Poses Greatest Threat To Insurance Industry - Ernst & Young Report Highlights Top 10 Risks For Insurers
NEW YORK, 23 JUNE 2009 - The impact of the financial crisis is the most significant risk facing the insurance industry, according to a new report by Ernst & Young. In the Second annual business risk report - insurance 2009, model risk and regulatory intervention rank second and third among the top ten risks.
'As a result of the current economic conditions, there have been significant changes in the risks since the release of our 2008 report,' says Peter R. Porrino, Global Director of Insurance in Ernst & Young's Global Insurance Center. 'As insurance companies continue to navigate their way through this downturn, they should be focusing on changing their approach to risk management, regulatory analysis and the communication of risk information.'
The report identifies the top 10 business risks faced by the industry as ranked by more than 100 leading sector analysts. The top ten risks this year are:
1. Financial market crisis: the crisis has severely battered the financial services industry. Even if systemic risk abates, the consequences have been so profound that they are likely to shape the industry for the next decade.
2. Model risk: the failure to recognize the shortcomings of models and to adequately capture the nature of risk have left some companies unprepared for the depth of recent financial events.
3. Regulatory intervention: organizations must prepare for"
4. Managing the non-life underwriting cycle: mismanaging the cycle is arguably the number one cause of insolvency in the non-life insurance industry and the number one contributor to losses in stakeholder value.
5. Geopolitical shocks: greater risk of geopolitical shocks is heightened by the economic slowdown, as falling incomes generate political pressures and collapsing tax revenues threaten governments' capacity to respond.
6. Demographic shifts in core markets: consumer focus on savings products increases the insurance industry's need to strategically manage capital risk, including exposure to equity markets.
7. Emerging markets: while proving to be an area of expansion for large diversified insurers, emerging markets are more susceptible to rapid and unexpected deterioration.
8. Channel distribution: even with current market conditions and an increasing focus on expense reduction, there are still significant opportunities and risks in investing in multi-distribution strategies.
9. Legal risks: unexpected changes in both the forms and sources of liability continue to be one of the greatest challenges facing non-life insurance companies.
10. Climate change and catastrophic events: extreme events are major strategic risks for the industry and have far-reaching implications for insurers paying the price for the escalating costs of rising catastrophic losses.
While much of the downside risk may have already occurred, the current market turbulence still poses an immediate threat. "In this environment, it is essential that insurance companies address product innovation, changing regulation, investment strategies and capital requirements to help retain earning power and maintain agency ratings. This will help to serve as a starting point for discussions among leadership so that their near- and long-term business strategies take these issues into account," Peter Porrino concludes. "While instability still prevails, opportunities abound for those companies that are able to rebuild and strengthen their businesses."
About Ernst & Young's Global Insurance Center
Insurers must increasingly address more complex and converging regulatory issues that challenge their risk management approaches, operations and financial reporting practices. Ernst & Young's Global Insurance Center brings together a worldwide team of professionals to help you achieve your potential - a team with deep technical experience in providing assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The Center works to anticipate market trends, identify the implications and develop points of view on relevant industry issues. Ultimately it enables us to help you meet your goals and compete more effectively. It's how Ernst & Young makes a difference.
About Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. Worldwide, our 135,000 people are united by our shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality. We make a difference by helping our people, our clients and our wider communities achieve their potential.
For more information, please visit http://www.ey.com/ <http://www.ey.com/> .
Ernst & Young refers to the global organization of member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients.
See Post At Insurance Broadcasting: http://www.insurancebroadcasting.com/insurance-news-062509-1.htm
Read Full Report At E&Y: http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/Second_annual_business_risk_report/$FILE/Industry_Insurance_Second_annual_business_risk_report_2009.pdf
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Thursday, 06/25/09
Impact Of Financial Crisis Poses Greatest Threat To Insurance Industry - Ernst & Young Report Highlights Top 10 Risks For Insurers
NEW YORK, 23 JUNE 2009 - The impact of the financial crisis is the most significant risk facing the insurance industry, according to a new report by Ernst & Young. In the Second annual business risk report - insurance 2009, model risk and regulatory intervention rank second and third among the top ten risks.
'As a result of the current economic conditions, there have been significant changes in the risks since the release of our 2008 report,' says Peter R. Porrino, Global Director of Insurance in Ernst & Young's Global Insurance Center. 'As insurance companies continue to navigate their way through this downturn, they should be focusing on changing their approach to risk management, regulatory analysis and the communication of risk information.'
The report identifies the top 10 business risks faced by the industry as ranked by more than 100 leading sector analysts. The top ten risks this year are:
1. Financial market crisis: the crisis has severely battered the financial services industry. Even if systemic risk abates, the consequences have been so profound that they are likely to shape the industry for the next decade.
2. Model risk: the failure to recognize the shortcomings of models and to adequately capture the nature of risk have left some companies unprepared for the depth of recent financial events.
3. Regulatory intervention: organizations must prepare for"
4. Managing the non-life underwriting cycle: mismanaging the cycle is arguably the number one cause of insolvency in the non-life insurance industry and the number one contributor to losses in stakeholder value.
5. Geopolitical shocks: greater risk of geopolitical shocks is heightened by the economic slowdown, as falling incomes generate political pressures and collapsing tax revenues threaten governments' capacity to respond.
6. Demographic shifts in core markets: consumer focus on savings products increases the insurance industry's need to strategically manage capital risk, including exposure to equity markets.
7. Emerging markets: while proving to be an area of expansion for large diversified insurers, emerging markets are more susceptible to rapid and unexpected deterioration.
8. Channel distribution: even with current market conditions and an increasing focus on expense reduction, there are still significant opportunities and risks in investing in multi-distribution strategies.
9. Legal risks: unexpected changes in both the forms and sources of liability continue to be one of the greatest challenges facing non-life insurance companies.
10. Climate change and catastrophic events: extreme events are major strategic risks for the industry and have far-reaching implications for insurers paying the price for the escalating costs of rising catastrophic losses.
While much of the downside risk may have already occurred, the current market turbulence still poses an immediate threat. "In this environment, it is essential that insurance companies address product innovation, changing regulation, investment strategies and capital requirements to help retain earning power and maintain agency ratings. This will help to serve as a starting point for discussions among leadership so that their near- and long-term business strategies take these issues into account," Peter Porrino concludes. "While instability still prevails, opportunities abound for those companies that are able to rebuild and strengthen their businesses."
About Ernst & Young's Global Insurance Center
Insurers must increasingly address more complex and converging regulatory issues that challenge their risk management approaches, operations and financial reporting practices. Ernst & Young's Global Insurance Center brings together a worldwide team of professionals to help you achieve your potential - a team with deep technical experience in providing assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The Center works to anticipate market trends, identify the implications and develop points of view on relevant industry issues. Ultimately it enables us to help you meet your goals and compete more effectively. It's how Ernst & Young makes a difference.
About Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. Worldwide, our 135,000 people are united by our shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality. We make a difference by helping our people, our clients and our wider communities achieve their potential.
For more information, please visit http://www.ey.com/ <http://www.ey.com/> .
Ernst & Young refers to the global organization of member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients.
See Post At Insurance Broadcasting: http://www.insurancebroadcasting.com/insurance-news-062509-1.htm
Read Full Report At E&Y: http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/Second_annual_business_risk_report/$FILE/Industry_Insurance_Second_annual_business_risk_report_2009.pdf
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
J.D. Power Survey: Good Agent Relations Make Insurers Money
J.D. Power Survey: Good Agent Relations Make Insurers Money
National Underwriter
J.D. Power Survey: Good Agent Relations Make Insurers Money
By MARK E. RUQUET
Published 3/25/2009
NU Online News Service, March 25, 3:07 p.m. EDT
The closer a carrier’s relationships with its independent agents, the more business they send its way, according to a J.D. Power and Associates satisfaction survey.
The Westlake Village, Calif.-based information services firm’s findings were contained in its first “2009 Insurance Agency Satisfaction Study.”
J.D. Power said for its report it surveyed 1,589 insurance agents who evaluated more than 10 companies across the industry.
According to the survey findings, the more satisfied an agent is with a carrier, the more premium the producer anticipates placing with that carrier in the future.
Jeremy Bowler, senior director of the insurance practice at J.D. Power, said agent satisfaction is very important because of the influence producers have over consumer-buying decisions.
“If agents are the glue that binds [consumers] to the carrier…then carriers need to do whatever they can [to improve that relationship],” Mr. Bowler said in an interview.
He pointed to an earlier consumer survey released with this report that found 60 percent of customers would renew their business through their agent. However, only 44 percent of consumers said they would definitely renew with an insurer.
An even stronger indicator of customer preference was the finding that 60 percent of customers said they would switch insurers if their agent advised them to do so.
“Companies will be hard pressed to make a loyalty play [to the policyholder] if the agent does not want to stay with the company,” noted Mr. Bowler.
He said the survey revealed that satisfaction has less to do with compensation than service elements.
The key drivers of satisfaction for agents are:
• Thirty-two percent of agents say carrier contacts are the key satisfaction driver.
• Twenty-three percent say policy offerings are their key driver.
• Sixteen percent said it is claims handling.
• Thirteen percent said technology.
• Ten percent said price.
• Five percent said compensation.
Read full article: http://www.property-casualty.com/News/2009/3/Pages/JD-Power-Survey-Good-Agent-Relations-Make-Insurers-Money--.aspx
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
National Underwriter
J.D. Power Survey: Good Agent Relations Make Insurers Money
By MARK E. RUQUET
Published 3/25/2009
NU Online News Service, March 25, 3:07 p.m. EDT
The closer a carrier’s relationships with its independent agents, the more business they send its way, according to a J.D. Power and Associates satisfaction survey.
The Westlake Village, Calif.-based information services firm’s findings were contained in its first “2009 Insurance Agency Satisfaction Study.”
J.D. Power said for its report it surveyed 1,589 insurance agents who evaluated more than 10 companies across the industry.
According to the survey findings, the more satisfied an agent is with a carrier, the more premium the producer anticipates placing with that carrier in the future.
Jeremy Bowler, senior director of the insurance practice at J.D. Power, said agent satisfaction is very important because of the influence producers have over consumer-buying decisions.
“If agents are the glue that binds [consumers] to the carrier…then carriers need to do whatever they can [to improve that relationship],” Mr. Bowler said in an interview.
He pointed to an earlier consumer survey released with this report that found 60 percent of customers would renew their business through their agent. However, only 44 percent of consumers said they would definitely renew with an insurer.
An even stronger indicator of customer preference was the finding that 60 percent of customers said they would switch insurers if their agent advised them to do so.
“Companies will be hard pressed to make a loyalty play [to the policyholder] if the agent does not want to stay with the company,” noted Mr. Bowler.
He said the survey revealed that satisfaction has less to do with compensation than service elements.
The key drivers of satisfaction for agents are:
• Thirty-two percent of agents say carrier contacts are the key satisfaction driver.
• Twenty-three percent say policy offerings are their key driver.
• Sixteen percent said it is claims handling.
• Thirteen percent said technology.
• Ten percent said price.
• Five percent said compensation.
Read full article: http://www.property-casualty.com/News/2009/3/Pages/JD-Power-Survey-Good-Agent-Relations-Make-Insurers-Money--.aspx
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Sustaining The Romance of Creativity
The Romance of Creativity
The Romance of Creativity
by Mitchell Ditkoff, Idea Champions
Excerpts:
Simply put, whenever a person gets a new idea, a kind of romance begins. We become absorbed. Intoxicated. Smitten. Indeed, for many people, just thinking about a new idea is an aphrodisiac. It turns us on, psyches us up, and otherwise makes it very hard to eat, sleep, or obsess about cash flow.
While some people involved in a new relationship are able to sustain the accompanying excitement for months, most of us are less fortunate. It's the rare person, indeed, who knows how to savor and expand upon this feeling for years.
Ditto with the creative process.
You bet there's hope. And something a lot more powerful - awareness. Simply by paying attention to the games you play to protect yourself (from failure or success) will go a long way towards ensuring their extinction.
To begin with, understand that all romances, no matter how inspiring, are temporary. The trivial ones simply end. The good ones mature, often growing into committed relationships - even marriages. If you are really serious about your current hot idea, be willing to get closer to it. Be willing to go from the romance stage to an intimate relationship. Understand what the creative process is - an impossible-to-deny encounter with yourself - your fears, your power, your vision, and what drives you to play the game of life. Be willing to see your new venture as it is - with all its blemishes, quirks, and vagary. Know that you will have your falling out periods and your disagreements. Know that you will sometimes feel like a fraud. Know also that the fuel for many creative breakthroughs has not only been passion, purpose, and power, but also confusion, conflict, and collapse. It's normal. It's human. It's part of the process.
So please, be gentle with yourself. Be patient. Breathe deep. And above all, do whatever you can - day or night, rich or poor, male or female, manager or managee - to put the elation back into your relationship to creativity.
Read full article: http://www.ideachampions.com/article_romance.shtml
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
The Romance of Creativity
by Mitchell Ditkoff, Idea Champions
Excerpts:
Simply put, whenever a person gets a new idea, a kind of romance begins. We become absorbed. Intoxicated. Smitten. Indeed, for many people, just thinking about a new idea is an aphrodisiac. It turns us on, psyches us up, and otherwise makes it very hard to eat, sleep, or obsess about cash flow.
While some people involved in a new relationship are able to sustain the accompanying excitement for months, most of us are less fortunate. It's the rare person, indeed, who knows how to savor and expand upon this feeling for years.
Ditto with the creative process.
You bet there's hope. And something a lot more powerful - awareness. Simply by paying attention to the games you play to protect yourself (from failure or success) will go a long way towards ensuring their extinction.
To begin with, understand that all romances, no matter how inspiring, are temporary. The trivial ones simply end. The good ones mature, often growing into committed relationships - even marriages. If you are really serious about your current hot idea, be willing to get closer to it. Be willing to go from the romance stage to an intimate relationship. Understand what the creative process is - an impossible-to-deny encounter with yourself - your fears, your power, your vision, and what drives you to play the game of life. Be willing to see your new venture as it is - with all its blemishes, quirks, and vagary. Know that you will have your falling out periods and your disagreements. Know that you will sometimes feel like a fraud. Know also that the fuel for many creative breakthroughs has not only been passion, purpose, and power, but also confusion, conflict, and collapse. It's normal. It's human. It's part of the process.
So please, be gentle with yourself. Be patient. Breathe deep. And above all, do whatever you can - day or night, rich or poor, male or female, manager or managee - to put the elation back into your relationship to creativity.
Read full article: http://www.ideachampions.com/article_romance.shtml
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Harvard Business Review: THE IKEA EFFECT: WHEN LABOR LEADS TO LOVE
THE IKEA EFFECT: WHEN LABOR LEADS TO LOVE
Perspective
Written by Michael I. Norton
Sunday, 01 March 2009 23:23
Excerpts:
Research conducted with my colleagues Daniel Mochon, of Yale University, and Dan Ariely, of Duke University, shows that labor enhances affection for its results. When people construct products themselves, from bookshelves to Build-a-Bears, they come to overvalue their (often poorly made) creations. We call this phenomenon the IKEA effect, in honor of the wildly successful Swedish manufacturer whose products typically arrive with some assembly required.
We also investigated the limits of the IKEA effect, showing that labor leads to higher valuation only when the labor is fruitful: When participants failed to complete an effortful task, the IKEA effect dissipated. Our research suggests that consumers may be willing to pay a premium for do-it-yourself projects, but there’s an important caveat: Companies hoping to persuade their customers to assume labor costs—for example, by nudging them toward self-service through Internet channels—should be careful to create tasks difficult enough to lead to higher valuation but not so difficult that customers can’t complete them.
Finally, the IKEA effect has broader implications for organizational dynamics: It contributes to the sunk cost effect, whereby managers continue to devote resources to (sometimes failing) projects in which they have invested their labor, and to the not-invented-here syndrome, whereby they discount good ideas developed elsewhere in favor of their (sometimes inferior) internally developed ideas. Managers should keep in mind that ideas they have come to love because they invested their own labor in them may not be as highly valued by their coworkers—or their customers.
Michael I. Norton is an assistant professor at Harvard Business School in Boston.
Read full article here: http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/web/2009/hbr-list/ikea-effect-when-labor-leads-to-love
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Perspective
Written by Michael I. Norton
Sunday, 01 March 2009 23:23
Excerpts:
Research conducted with my colleagues Daniel Mochon, of Yale University, and Dan Ariely, of Duke University, shows that labor enhances affection for its results. When people construct products themselves, from bookshelves to Build-a-Bears, they come to overvalue their (often poorly made) creations. We call this phenomenon the IKEA effect, in honor of the wildly successful Swedish manufacturer whose products typically arrive with some assembly required.
We also investigated the limits of the IKEA effect, showing that labor leads to higher valuation only when the labor is fruitful: When participants failed to complete an effortful task, the IKEA effect dissipated. Our research suggests that consumers may be willing to pay a premium for do-it-yourself projects, but there’s an important caveat: Companies hoping to persuade their customers to assume labor costs—for example, by nudging them toward self-service through Internet channels—should be careful to create tasks difficult enough to lead to higher valuation but not so difficult that customers can’t complete them.
Finally, the IKEA effect has broader implications for organizational dynamics: It contributes to the sunk cost effect, whereby managers continue to devote resources to (sometimes failing) projects in which they have invested their labor, and to the not-invented-here syndrome, whereby they discount good ideas developed elsewhere in favor of their (sometimes inferior) internally developed ideas. Managers should keep in mind that ideas they have come to love because they invested their own labor in them may not be as highly valued by their coworkers—or their customers.
Michael I. Norton is an assistant professor at Harvard Business School in Boston.
Read full article here: http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/web/2009/hbr-list/ikea-effect-when-labor-leads-to-love
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
"40 Ways To Relax" - Boost your long-term productivity, creativity, and effectiveness
40 ways to relax
Note from Jim: Boost your long-term productivity, creativity, and effectiveness. Read "40 Ways To Relax"
Read article here: http://health.asiaone.com/Health/Wellness+@+Work/Story/A1Story20090227-124965.html
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Note from Jim: Boost your long-term productivity, creativity, and effectiveness. Read "40 Ways To Relax"
Read article here: http://health.asiaone.com/Health/Wellness+@+Work/Story/A1Story20090227-124965.html
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Number of Companies Freezing Salaries May Continue to Rise
Number of Companies Freezing Salaries May Continue to Rise
World At Work
Number of Companies Freezing Salaries May Continue to Rise
Feb. 12, 2009 — One-quarter of U.S. companies surveyed has instituted a salary freeze, a number that may rise to one-third by the time 2009 budgets are finalized.
Read Full Article: http://www.worldatwork.org/waw/adimComment?id=31191
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
World At Work
Number of Companies Freezing Salaries May Continue to Rise
Feb. 12, 2009 — One-quarter of U.S. companies surveyed has instituted a salary freeze, a number that may rise to one-third by the time 2009 budgets are finalized.
Read Full Article: http://www.worldatwork.org/waw/adimComment?id=31191
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Swiss Re's New Sigma Study Explores Scenario Planning for Insurers
Insurance Broadcasting Home pages
Insurance Broadcasting
Wednesday, 02/25/09
Swiss Re's New Sigma Study Explores Scenario Planning for Insurers
ZURICH, Feb. 24 /PRNewswire-Asia/ --
Excerpts:
Scenario analysis helps insurers make business decisions by considering a number of potential future developments, allowing them to manage a broad range of often interrelated risks. Scenario analysis is used in areas such as strategic planning, risk management and underwriting.
"Events like the financial crisis will accelerate the adoption of these approaches and encourage insurers to use state-of-the-art scenario analysis to evaluate risks," said Swiss Re economist Kurt Karl.
Common uses of scenarios in insurance
Insurers face a number of risks, such as natural catastrophes, mortality risks and investment volatility. These risks often interact in complex ways.
State-of-the-art scenario analysis
A state-of-the-art approach would see insurers excelling in the following types of scenario analysis:
-- A global model of assets and liabilities that can be stress tested with insurance, economic and financial market shocks.
-- A regular programme of internal scenario tests related to shocks such as natural catastrophes and pandemics, as well as economic and financial market shocks.
-- Models that capture how these shocks affect each major asset class and business line.
Read Full Article: http://www.insurancebroadcasting.com/insurance-news-022509-7.htm
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Insurance Broadcasting
Wednesday, 02/25/09
Swiss Re's New Sigma Study Explores Scenario Planning for Insurers
ZURICH, Feb. 24 /PRNewswire-Asia/ --
Excerpts:
Scenario analysis helps insurers make business decisions by considering a number of potential future developments, allowing them to manage a broad range of often interrelated risks. Scenario analysis is used in areas such as strategic planning, risk management and underwriting.
"Events like the financial crisis will accelerate the adoption of these approaches and encourage insurers to use state-of-the-art scenario analysis to evaluate risks," said Swiss Re economist Kurt Karl.
Common uses of scenarios in insurance
Insurers face a number of risks, such as natural catastrophes, mortality risks and investment volatility. These risks often interact in complex ways.
State-of-the-art scenario analysis
A state-of-the-art approach would see insurers excelling in the following types of scenario analysis:
-- A global model of assets and liabilities that can be stress tested with insurance, economic and financial market shocks.
-- A regular programme of internal scenario tests related to shocks such as natural catastrophes and pandemics, as well as economic and financial market shocks.
-- Models that capture how these shocks affect each major asset class and business line.
Read Full Article: http://www.insurancebroadcasting.com/insurance-news-022509-7.htm
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Investment returns top insurers' list of concerns | Business Insurance News, Analysis & Articles
Investment returns top insurers' list of concerns Business Insurance News, Analysis & Articles
Business Insurance
Investment returns top insurers' list of concerns
Posted On: Feb. 23, 2009 6:13 AM CST
Stuart Collins
LONDON—As the financial downturn shows no sign of abating, insurers polled by PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P. have identified investment performance as their chief concern.
While investment returns failed to even feature in the top 10 when PwC last surveyed insurers in its “Insurance Banana Skins” survey 18 months ago, investment performance, equity markets and capital availability were the top three risks in the 2009 report.
Read full article: http://www.businessinsurance.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=15493
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Business Insurance
Investment returns top insurers' list of concerns
Posted On: Feb. 23, 2009 6:13 AM CST
Stuart Collins
LONDON—As the financial downturn shows no sign of abating, insurers polled by PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P. have identified investment performance as their chief concern.
While investment returns failed to even feature in the top 10 when PwC last surveyed insurers in its “Insurance Banana Skins” survey 18 months ago, investment performance, equity markets and capital availability were the top three risks in the 2009 report.
Read full article: http://www.businessinsurance.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=15493
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
How Positive Psychology Can Boost Your Business - BusinessWeek
How Positive Psychology Can Boost Your Business - BusinessWeek
February 12 2009
Business Week
How Positive Psychology Can Boost Your Business
In tough times, entrepreneurs try the so-called science of happiness to build thriving companies
By Jill Hamburg Coplan
Note from Jim: Great article about the science and psychology of happiness, a serious area of academic study launched in 1999 by the President of the American Psychological Association, Martin Seligman. Learn how adoption of these principles can enhance your personal and business performance.
Full article here: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_62/s0902044518985.htm
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
February 12 2009
Business Week
How Positive Psychology Can Boost Your Business
In tough times, entrepreneurs try the so-called science of happiness to build thriving companies
By Jill Hamburg Coplan
Note from Jim: Great article about the science and psychology of happiness, a serious area of academic study launched in 1999 by the President of the American Psychological Association, Martin Seligman. Learn how adoption of these principles can enhance your personal and business performance.
Full article here: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_62/s0902044518985.htm
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Economic Stimulus Package Imposes New Executive Pay Restrictions on TARP Recipients- The Law Firm of Faegre & Benson LLP
Economic Stimulus Package Imposes New Executive Pay Restrictions on TARP Recipients- The Law Firm of Faegre & Benson LLP
Note from Jim: An important read for candidates and clients alike.... Details you may not know.
Economic Stimulus Package Imposes New Executive Pay Restrictions on TARP Recipients
18-February-2009
AuthorsBarbara-Ann Gustaferro David B. Miller
Read Full Article: http://www.faegre.com/showarticle.aspx?Show=8965
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Note from Jim: An important read for candidates and clients alike.... Details you may not know.
Economic Stimulus Package Imposes New Executive Pay Restrictions on TARP Recipients
18-February-2009
AuthorsBarbara-Ann Gustaferro David B. Miller
Read Full Article: http://www.faegre.com/showarticle.aspx?Show=8965
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Is It the End for Big Director Pay Raises? - Careers - CFO.com
Is It the End for Big Director Pay Raises? - Careers - CFO.com
Is It the End for Big Director Pay Raises?
Ever so slightly, shareholders are starting to work up some concern over board compensation, which has risen annually in the double digits in recent years, a new study shows.
David McCann - CFO.com US
February 10, 2009
Excerpts:
With executive compensation being thoroughly vetted — and not just at companies that take federal bailout money — will closer scrutiny of directors' pay be far behind?
Maybe not, though until recently, few shareholders have objected to board compensation, despite the fact that it has risen steadily in recent years. That comfort came mostly out of a desire to attract and retain directors who are motivated and committed to their oversight roles.
Now one corporate governance research firm is seeing a slight shift in that attitude. "Just in this past year, I've started to notice a few people saying, about some companies at least, that the directors are being paid a lot of money, but are they really doing that good of a job?" said Paul Hodgson, senior research associate with The Corporate Library.
Still, Hodgson isn't sold on the idea that a revolution is at hand, at least not yet. "I'll believe it when I see it. I don't think it will be particularly widespread," he added.
According to the report [The Corporate Library's Director Pay 2008 study] , it was the third straight year of double-digit increases for both individual directors and entire boards. Individuals earned a median of almost 12 percent more than the previous year, but because the average board shrunk in size, the median total board pay climbed only 11 percent.
Hodgson attributed the steady climb of director compensation to the tightened regulatory environment spurred by the big corporate scandals earlier in the decade and the resulting passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Read Full Article:
http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/13095180/c_2984338
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Is It the End for Big Director Pay Raises?
Ever so slightly, shareholders are starting to work up some concern over board compensation, which has risen annually in the double digits in recent years, a new study shows.
David McCann - CFO.com US
February 10, 2009
Excerpts:
With executive compensation being thoroughly vetted — and not just at companies that take federal bailout money — will closer scrutiny of directors' pay be far behind?
Maybe not, though until recently, few shareholders have objected to board compensation, despite the fact that it has risen steadily in recent years. That comfort came mostly out of a desire to attract and retain directors who are motivated and committed to their oversight roles.
Now one corporate governance research firm is seeing a slight shift in that attitude. "Just in this past year, I've started to notice a few people saying, about some companies at least, that the directors are being paid a lot of money, but are they really doing that good of a job?" said Paul Hodgson, senior research associate with The Corporate Library.
Still, Hodgson isn't sold on the idea that a revolution is at hand, at least not yet. "I'll believe it when I see it. I don't think it will be particularly widespread," he added.
According to the report [The Corporate Library's Director Pay 2008 study] , it was the third straight year of double-digit increases for both individual directors and entire boards. Individuals earned a median of almost 12 percent more than the previous year, but because the average board shrunk in size, the median total board pay climbed only 11 percent.
Hodgson attributed the steady climb of director compensation to the tightened regulatory environment spurred by the big corporate scandals earlier in the decade and the resulting passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Read Full Article:
http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/13095180/c_2984338
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
To Make Investors Happy, Hire a Woman as CFO? - Careers - CFO.com
To Make Investors Happy, Hire a Woman as CFO? - Careers - CFO.com:
"To Make Investors Happy, Hire a Woman as CFO?
New research suggests that certain actions by companies create more shareholder value when a woman, not a man, is at the finance helm.
David McCann - CFO.com US
February 9, 2009"
Read full Article: http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/13056001/c_2984411
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
"To Make Investors Happy, Hire a Woman as CFO?
New research suggests that certain actions by companies create more shareholder value when a woman, not a man, is at the finance helm.
David McCann - CFO.com US
February 9, 2009"
Read full Article: http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/13056001/c_2984411
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Approaching success, avoiding the undesired: Does goal type matter? | Psychology Today Blogs
Approaching success, avoiding the undesired: Does goal type matter? Psychology Today Blogs
Approaching success, avoiding the undesired: Does goal type matter?
By Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D. on February 08, 2009 in Don't Delay
Approach Goals vs. Avoidance Goals
Approach-oriented goals involve reaching or maintaining desired outcomes. Avoidance goals focus on avoiding or eliminating undesired outcomes. Although both types of goals are common in our lives and both are functional, one goal-type is associated with more happiness than the other. I also think that there's something to learn about procrastination here.
Read Full Article Here: http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/don039t-delay/200902/approaching-success-avoiding-the-undesired-does-goal-type-matter
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Approaching success, avoiding the undesired: Does goal type matter?
By Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D. on February 08, 2009 in Don't Delay
Approach Goals vs. Avoidance Goals
Approach-oriented goals involve reaching or maintaining desired outcomes. Avoidance goals focus on avoiding or eliminating undesired outcomes. Although both types of goals are common in our lives and both are functional, one goal-type is associated with more happiness than the other. I also think that there's something to learn about procrastination here.
Read Full Article Here: http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/don039t-delay/200902/approaching-success-avoiding-the-undesired-does-goal-type-matter
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
An interview with the CEO of a leading Italian design firm - The McKinsey Quarterly - interview CEO Italian design firm - Strategy - Innovation
An interview with the CEO of a leading Italian design firm - The McKinsey Quarterly - interview CEO Italian design firm - Strategy - Innovation
Alberto Alessi, head of his family’s iconic design factory, talks about how to sustain innovation over decades—and why companies should take more risk.
FEBRUARY 2009 • Marla M. Capozzi and Josselyn Simpson
Read full article: http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategy/Innovation/Cultivating_innovation_an_interview_with_the_CEO_of_a_leading_Italian_design_firm_2299
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Alberto Alessi, head of his family’s iconic design factory, talks about how to sustain innovation over decades—and why companies should take more risk.
FEBRUARY 2009 • Marla M. Capozzi and Josselyn Simpson
Read full article: http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategy/Innovation/Cultivating_innovation_an_interview_with_the_CEO_of_a_leading_Italian_design_firm_2299
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
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