Tell us a bit about your role
I primarily oversee the underwriting and management of the accident and health (A&H) portfolio. A&H means different things, sometimes, health, but here it’s commercial business via brokers. Just built SME etrade, just launched, client sizes go from mid corp down to sme or micro sme’s (sole traders), other end start to look at large corp multinational. Expanding down and up. 3 components to the product, personal accident, employee injury and compensation, business travel, medical and baggage, and sickness benefit, someone goes ill. New and existing business, I am central referral point, uw’s in branches would be dealing with own portfolio of business, there will be responsibility for own portfolio, I will be acting as the referral point, centre of expertise, responsible for delivering training and support to those u/writers and signing off licencing. Each uunderwriter given authority, it’s about client size and premium/money.
 
Best thing about your job
Freedom to get on with it. Apart from reporting to Manager, I am in a unique position where I have own authority and license. My job contains different aspects, the first and most important is training and sign off to enable them to get through renewals, quotations etc., also responsible for creating framework of the policies they sell and rates they use. Claims have their own separate arrangement. Have joy of developing the staff, giving them the products, from client point of view, we have good communications with our claims team. From policy holder point of view, they buy policy, look at it when time to renew, from broker/underwriter point of view maintain it, but real interaction with customer is through claims route. The amount of work that goes on in the background, development and meetings, product work, what branch underwriters see when they working with their clients, the point of referral is only 10 or 15% of their time. I get to go out to see key clients too.
 
How did you get to where you are today?
I was specialist almost from day one of my career, a lot of the u/writers are disciplined in multiple lines of business, I started on the path that narrowed down to one area, my pathway was almost accidental. Before AZ, I was in private medical insurer. Started at RSA, that got closed, then AIG, after seven years they rehired me and others. I then moved to a temporary job called Ace, moved to mat cover in Chubb, Ace took over Chubb. Then I joined medical insurer, was interesting as was very small firm.
 
What is the best thing about working at Allianz?
The people and the culture. I have worked at other firms with bad managers, here everything is good. This has the right balance, right at the end of my career I think I have the best job I’ve ever had. I know what good looks like.