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September 27, 2019

IIG International Tour Updates

<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-140078" src="https://www.cover.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/unnamed-24.png" alt="" width="1641" height="681" />

 

<h3><span style="color: #896813;"><strong>DAY 1 UPDATE: SAN FRANCISCO</strong></span></h3>

Heritage Day reminds us about the many great things we have to celebrate in our diverse and beautiful country. This year it also marked the start of the <span class="il">IIG</span> International 2019 tour – where delegates have taken SA to the USA.

After travelling over 25 hours in total (which included a short stop-over in Dubai), the 37 excited delegates landed safely at our first destination, San Francisco.

On the coach ride to our hotel, our tour guide provided some interesting facts about San Francisco; a sea-side city that boasts natural beauty which is juxtaposed with skyscrapers belonging to the world’s largest technology companies. This includes Salesforce which is the city’s biggest employer and is where you will find over 12 000 staff members.

The delegates had just enough time to freshen up before we made our way to the infamous Pier where we went on a spectacular sunset boat cruise around San Francisco Bay. This gave delegates the opportunity to marvel at the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz as well as the city’s skyline from a distance.

All in all, this was a great way to begin the trip before we head into our first company visits tomorrow morning.

<a href="https://iig.us16.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7625d3baa3dc233cb856960f6&amp;id=7cecd606f7&amp;e=f2f32d1c47"><strong>VIDEOS: </strong>Watch Tshepiso Chocho from Sasria SOC give us an update from day one of the tour.</a>

<a href="https://iig.us16.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7625d3baa3dc233cb856960f6&amp;id=db34577464&amp;e=f2f32d1c47"><strong>PHOTOS: </strong>View all the photos to follow the tour and see what the <span class="il">IIG</span> International delegates are up to.</a>

<h3><span style="color: #8d6900;"><strong>DAY 2 UPDATE: SAN FRANCISCO</strong></span></h3>

The delegates were well-rested and raring to go for the first day of company visits. The first stop was at the Guidewire offices, a software company that offers a platform for property and casualty insurance carriers around the globe, including South Africa. The presenter for the morning was Laura Drabik, Group Vice President of Business Innovation, who discussed trends and innovation in insurance. Laura mentioned that they’ve placed focus on millennials and stressed the importance of using omni-channels to engage with them. Interestingly, based on their research, they’ve discovered that solely using Artificial Intelligence to service clients is not the most effective way to go about it. There needs to be a balance between <em>human touch</em> and <em>self-service</em>. Ending off her presentation, Laura mentioned that $4.15bn (2018) was invested in insurtech globally and showed us some of the impressive features that Guidewire’s software is able to offer. The last part of the company visit was a guided tour of their building and creative environment.

We then made our way to Gen Re where we were hosted by their Vice President, Steve Eilers, who provided an overview of Gen Re, their Property Facultative product as well as the current market dynamics in the US. Steve pointed out that between 1997 and 2016, the largest catastrophe losses in the US are due to tornadoes (39.9%) and hurricanes (38.2%). The most devastating event to date was Hurricane Katrina with an estimated insured loss of $41bn in August 2005. Steve also discussed the recent trends in wildfire exposure from a property perspective, as it has become a significant issue in California.

Gen Re then hosted us at the bar across the road called, <em>The Royal Exchange, </em>which is a well-known venue for the local insurance professionals to socialise with some business even being concluded on cocktail napkins.

<a href="https://iig.us16.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7625d3baa3dc233cb856960f6&amp;id=a20146f0b3&amp;e=f2f32d1c47"><strong>VIDEOS: </strong>Our delegate, Yolandi Rex from Daimler Chrysler, provides an update from day two of the tour.</a>

<a href="https://iig.us16.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7625d3baa3dc233cb856960f6&amp;id=7a09104e92&amp;e=f2f32d1c47"><strong>PHOTOS: </strong>View all the photos to follow the tour and see what the <span class="il">IIG</span> International delegates are up to.</a>

<h3><span style="color: #8d6900;"><strong>DAY 6 UPDATE: WASHINGTON DC</strong></span></h3>

The delegates woke up to a rainy day in Washington DC but this did not dampen our excitement. After a short bus ride, we arrived at the World Bank building where we were greeted by Dr. Reshma Sheoraj, a fellow South African who formerly worked for National Treasury and has attended a couple of <span class="il">IIG</span> International tours herself (she is now a board member of the World Bank).

In her introduction, Dr Reshma mentioned that World Bank was established in 1944 and has become one of the world’s largest sources of funding (obtained from the 189 member countries) and knowledge centres for developing countries. Their next speaker was Craig W. Thorburn who provided an overview of insurance market developments and emerging trends. Craig mentioned that their insurance development priorities are: policy leadership, innovation, compulsion-reengineered, a risk-based world, enterprise risk and investing. Serap Gonulal spoke about closing the protection gap through risk sharing mechanics/insurance. Thereafter, Fatou Assad and Fatimata Dicko went on to share insights on the Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF), specifically delving into agriculture insurance, microinsurance, PPP models and disaster risk financing.

The visit at World Bank was concluded with an overview of MIGA’s Guarantee Programme by Paul Anthony Barbour.

Before heading off to the next company visit we had enough time to jump off the bus to take photos at the White House, Capitol Building and Washington Monument.

Our last stop for the day was at Wiley Rein, a world-renowned legal firm. The firm’s senior counsel and leading insurance lawyer, Tom Brunner opened the presentations by welcoming us to their offices and introduced us to a special high-profile guest speaker, Steven Seitz, who is the Director at the Federal Insurance Office of the US Department of Treasury; Steven proceeded to give us an international perspective of US insurance regulations.

We also got to hear from Wiley Rein’s attorney’s Ted Brown, on cyber risk insurance and Pamela Signorello, who provided in-depth insights into Director & Officers insurance in the US.

<a href="https://iig.us16.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7625d3baa3dc233cb856960f6&amp;id=9c9011b343&amp;e=f2f32d1c47"><strong>VIDEOS: Watch the videos from our visits to World Bank and Wiley Rein.</strong></a>

<strong><a href="https://iig.us16.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7625d3baa3dc233cb856960f6&amp;id=a7e1dbabbc&amp;e=f2f32d1c47">PHOTOS: View all the photos to follow the tour and see what the <span class="il">IIG</span> International.</a></strong>

<h3><span style="color: #8d6900;"><strong>DAY 7 UPDATE: WASHINGTON DC</strong></span></h3>

We woke up to a clear sky and warm weather after experiencing a wet and rainy first day in Washington DC. Our company visit to Zurich was a short bus ride away from the hotel and upon arrival, we were greeted by Florence DiPetro, their Business Development Leader.

Stef Zielezienski, a guest speaker from the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) provided insights into the current and future predicted challenges the US property and casualty market faces. After some robust discussion, the similarities, as well as differences between the SA and USA markets, were compared. It was then over to Daniel Flood, a US industry stalwart from New York, who unpacked Zurich's US model, placing emphasis on their global fronting programmes. Florence closed off the session answering the questions our delegates posed to her.

Before heading back to the hotel, we managed to squeeze in some sight-seeing at the Lincoln Memorial, Korean Memorial and Vietnam Memorial.

<a href="https://www.facebook.com/iiginternational/playlist/1335811169925162/"><strong>VIDEOS: Watch the video interview with Florence DiPietro from Zurich.</strong></a>

<strong><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/iiginternational/photos/?tab=album&amp;album_id=1116577625203489">PHOTOS: View all the photos to follow the tour and see what the IIG International.</a>

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<strong>The tour is powered by Camargue with media coverage by Oakhurst Insurance</strong>

<h3><span style="color: #896813;"><em>Keep posted for more daily updates on this post</em></span></h3>

 

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