Allianz SE : “Business is strong, it is a good time to leave”

Ron Buchan is a Chartered Insurer who started his professional life with Norwich Union Life.

Ron Buchan: It may sound clichéd, but it's true. It's all about our people offering the very best service standard in our market. International health insurance is all about service. We were lucky to get the focus right from the beginning. There has been no dramatic change in our business model since 1999, our strategy has remained fairly constant. More and more people are moving to other countries, and want to be sure that they and their families have access to the best hospitals and medical care. Our international healthcare plans provide this reassurance.

This is an extremely international business, as you can imagine. Our team consists of people of 60 different nationalities, it has the language skills and the regional knowledge which is crucial to serve clients in over 170 countries and make claims payments in more than 100 currencies. I believe that it is our people and the service they provide that makes us special and has driven our success. In recent years we moved into markets where we saw demand, such as other European countries, North Africa and Latin America. In December 2014 we announced the creation of an additional 100 jobs. This recruitment was driven primarily by new clients coming on board. In fact we achieved a record level of new business in the first quarter of 2015.

Yes, I guess there was this one moment when I realized I had become emotionally attached and I like remembering it. I was speaking at a big broker conference in London, I think it was about claims cost control, and in the following panel discussion one of the brokers said: "Ron, you have to understand that Allianz Worldwide Care is the best in terms of service delivery, the market is looking up to you." Then all of a sudden the audience got up and applauded. I felt a shiver down my back and I guess it was this kind of public recognition which showed me we were doing it right and I found that very special.

Absolutely. There is very little I would do differently although admittedly winning the lottery might have been an attractive alternative. I have always liked my work. I started in sales and marketing at one of the largest life and pensions insurers in the UK, created a life and health business for a start-up company in Bahrain and finally found an almost perfect job for my profile at Allianz Worldwide Care. Here I had the opportunity to start a new business from scratch with a bunch of extraordinary and extremely motivated people. Together we managed to develop one of the best service propositions in the market which resulted in record earnings. When Allianz Worldwide Care in Dublin merged with the international health and life business of Allianz France on 1st July 2014, Allianz Worldwide Care became the largest player in the international health and life market. So, I started my career with Allianz as the CEO of the smallest market player (as a start-up we had no clients!) and I finish my time as CEO of the largest player in our market. There is nothing more I could want.

Ok, now I have to admit it; I won't miss the early morning starts for those 6am flights to Europe. It will be nice to set the alarm clock to go off a little later! Bearing in mind that I will take up the role of Chairman on the supervisory board of Allianz Worldwide Care, I will still have the chance to see my old colleagues whom I enjoyed working with very much. It is a good time to leave. The management is very solid, last year was a record year. I will spend time in South Africa, taste wine and enjoy life.

Founded in 1999, Allianz Worldwide Care experienced strong and consistent growth over the past ten years. Last year Allianz Worldwide Care merged with the international division of Allianz France and obtained record results.

• 95% client retention rate

• 1.4 million claims processed in 2014

• 99% of fully completed medical claims are processed within 48 hours

• 245,388 Helpline calls answered in 2014

As with all content published on this site, these statements are subject to our Forward Looking Statement disclaimer:

Petra Brandes
Allianz SE
Phone +49.89.3800-18797
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