Appointments Belgium – Jul/Aug 2022

Who are the most recently appointed directors and C-levels? This summer has been quiet in terms of nominations.

 

FSMA

Jean-Paul Servais © FSMA

The FSMA (Financial Services and Markets Authority) re-elected Jean-Paul Servais as Chairman of the European Regional Committee of the global organization IOSCO. On his way for another two-year term, Jean-Paul Servais has held this position since October 2014.

Founded in 1983, the IOSCO aims at promoting collaboration between market supervisors and developing international standards as well as best practices. The organization counts 130 partners that are supervisory authorities across 115 countries, which represent 95% of the global financial sector. Organized in 4 regional committees, the IOSCO comprises the European Regional Committee which is composed by 51 European members.

 

Belfius Insurance

Daniela Rizzo & Matthias Baillieul © Belfius

Belfius has strengthened its Management Committee by appointing Daniela Rizzo and Matthias Baillieul.

Daniela Rizzo is the new Executive Director Non-Life. She has occupied for years several senior management positions in retail and life insurance for both Belfius Bank and Belfius Insurance.

As for Matthias Baillieul, he now endorses the role of CFO. Former lawyer, he has many years of experience in various financial areas at Belfius Bank.

 

LLoyd’s Europe

Bertrand Heugues © Linkedin

Lloyd’s Europe, the Brussels-based European subsidiary of Lloyd’s of London, has hired Bertrand Heugues, as its new Chief Underwriting Officer (CUO).

Before joining Lloyd’s Europe, he was Ageas Brussels’ Global Head of Pricing. Among his professional experiences, he started his career in 2005 at AXA and also worked for the broker March as well as Generali.

 

 

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Appointments in Belgium and Luxembourg – June 2022

Who are the most recently appointed directors and C-levels? June is pretty calm in terms of nominations.

 

Assuralia

Assuralia, the professional association of insurance companies, held its General Assembly on June 13 among which two mandates have been extended. First, the presidency of Hilde Vernaillen (P&V Group) for two years. Second, vice-president Etienne Bouas-Laurent (AXA), has also been reappointed for a period of two years.

Hilde Vernaillen studied applied economics at the KU Leuven. She started her career with the savings bank CODEP and Nagelmackers Bank before joining the P&V Group in 2002. In June 2011, she became Chairwoman of the Management Committee. In addition, she is also President of the ICMIF (International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation).

 

As for Etienne Bouas-Laurent, he is a graduate of ESCP Europe Business School and has held various financial and operational positions within AXA, notably in Asia, Germany, and France. In July 2021, he was appointed CEO of AXA Belgium and Chairman of the Board of AXA Luxembourg.

For two years now, the day-to-day management of Assuralia has been in the hands of CEO Hein Lannoy.

 

Bâloise Luxembourg

Insurer Bâloise Luxembourg announced the appointment of Stephan Hersperger-Cremer as Chief Financial Officer as of June 1, 2022.

Stephan Hersperger-Cremer holds a master’s degree in Quantitative Economics and Finance from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. He has more than 12 years of experience in the insurance and financial world.

Since 2014, he was working at Basler Versicherungen in Germany as Head of Investment Management. Prior to that, he worked for Helvetia Group as a Portfolio Strategist for four years.

Romain Braas, Director and CEO of Bâloise Luxembourg said: “The finance department holds an important and strategic position in our company, and I am pleased to welcome Stephan to the Bâloise management team, which is growing to six members. Stephan has been with Basler Versicherungen in Germany for more than seven years as Head of Investment Management and is a fine example of internal mobility within the Baloise Group“.

 

 

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Appointments in Belgium – May 2022

Who are the most recently appointed directors and C-levels? May highlights several nominations among which a woman has become CEO of a leading bank company.


ING Belgium

Pinar Abay

This month, ING has given additional space to women on its Board of Directors. Indeed, Pinar Abay has been appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors. In its 150-year history, it is the first time that the bank ING elects a woman to occupy this position.

She succeeds Diego du Monceau, who has reached the age limit of the Board, of which he was a member since 1993 and chairman since 2020.

Back in 2016, Pinar Abay was first appointed as a non-executive member of the Board of Directors. Since January 2020, she has been a member of ING’s Management Board Banking and Head of Market Leaders, responsible for Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Previously, she was CEO of ING in Turkey. Prior to joining ING in 2011, she worked at McKinsey & Company in Istanbul, San Francisco and New York, serving international banking clients.

Furthermore, the Board has welcomed new members: Hilde Laga as non-executive member, Ronald Oort as non-executive member and Peter Göbel as a member of the Executive Committee.

 

Belfius Insurance

Daniel Falque

In our previous newsletter, we informed you on the nomination of Belfius Insurance’ new CEO: Frederic Van der Schueren. This month, Daniel Falque has been appointed non-executive member of Belfius Insurance’s board of directors.

Throughout his career, he led the Belgian branch of KBC for 12 years until 2021. Before joining KBC, he held an international position at Deutsche Bank, after starting his career at the Belgian insurer De Vaderlandsche.

Currently at Belfius Insurance, he also participates in the group’s Technology Committee.

Marc Raisière, CEO of the Belfius Group, welcomes a “common vision” of bancassurance and values. He praises an experience that will allow to pursue “the growth in the field of bancassurance”.

Daniel Falque, for his part, underlines the leading position of Belfius in “digital financial distribution”. He concludes by underlining his enthusiasm to help Belfius fulfill “its long-term strategic and societal objectives”.

 

AXA Belgium

Serge Martin (left) – Antoine Boyer de la Giroday (right)

At the beginning of May, AXA Belgium announced the appointment of Serge Martin, their current Chief Life & Health Officer as the new Chief Distribution Officer. He takes over Jean-Philippe Vandenschrick’s position who is leaving the group AXA to pursue a new personal project.

Serge Martin holds a Master in Actuarial Sciences (KULeuven) and a Master in Economics (UFSIA). He started his career in insurance at Mercator and Noordstar, where he specialized in life insurance. After broadening his professional experience in companies such as KPMG, Aon, PwC and Insurope, Serge joined AXA Belgium in 2013 as Chief Risk Officer. He was then closely involved in the implementation of the Solvency II regulation. In 2015, he was appointed ‘Deputy CFO’, responsible among other things for accounting and reinsurance. In 2018, he was appointed Chief Life & Health Officer of AXA Belgium.

Another change in AXA Belgium is the fact that Antoine Boyer de la Giroday, current Director of Management Control of the AXA Group, is joining the Executive Committee of AXA Belgium as Chief Life & Health Officer. He developed his passion for the insurance industry during his consulting years and decided to join AXA Belgium in 2015. Since then, he held various positions within the Finance team and the Life Business Unit, before joining the AXA Group in early 2020 as Group Controlling Director.

All these appointments will take effect on 1 July 1 2022 and are subject to the approval of the National Bank of Belgium (BNB/ NBB), the Belgian financial supervisor.

 

Allianz

Eric Brys

Allianz has appointed its new P&C commercial director, Eric Brys. The latter is replacing Frank Gheysen who is leaving for Piette and Partners (PNP).

Erwin Brys knows Allianz inside out and has already several years of experience in the Belgian commercial team. In recent years, he has focused on corporate clients, but prior to that he was an underwriter for the retail and SME clients.

 

 

Assuralia

Chris Staes

Recently, a number of new faces has joined the Assuralia’s Board of Directors.

In particular, Chris Staes (Managing Director HDI Global SE) was unanimously appointed as a Director to replace Ed Goos, who had previously resigned from the Board.

In addition, the Board also unanimously approved the appointment of Frédéric Van Der Schueren (CEO of Belfius Insurance) as Director and member of the Executive Committee. He replaces Dirk Vanderschrick on the Executive Committee and the Audit Committee of the federation, and will also act as chairman of the Fraud Commission.

The Board of Directors was also honored to welcome a new candidate for membership in the Federation, Monument Assurance Belgium, which will of course benefit the representation rate.

On June 13, 2022, the General Assembly will meet, an important moment since the President, Hilde Vernaillen, and the Vice-President, Etienne Bouas-Laurent, are coming to the end of their mandate. Both are candidates for succession in their current positions.

 

 

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Interview with Joanna Chardon, Chief Product and Pricing Officer at Wakam

This month, we introduce you to Joanna Chardon, Chief Product and Pricing Officer at Wakam, the digital French insurer that provides products for large European platforms and insurtechs. Among its clients, Wakam counts well-known names in the tech industry such as Deliveroo and Uber. In 2021, its turnover reached €450 million; a growth mainly driven by international business.

Joanna Chardon is one of the big names in pricing in France. As Head of Wakam’s Advanced Pricing Analytics, Pre-sales Pricing, Products and Underwriters teams, she talks to us openly about her career as an actuary.

Hi Joanna! What a pleasure to make this interview with you today. You are undoubtedly one of the leading figures in the field of pricing in France.  Can you tell us about your career path?

After my studies at the University of Gdansk in Poland, I started my professional life as an actuary in the Technical department of AXA XL (formerly AXA Corporate Solution). I oversaw the evaluation of specific risks such as asbestos, pollution or pharmaceutical risks.  An experience far away from mass risk pricing, in which I later specialised by participating in the creation of AXA’s direct entity in Poland in 2007. This exciting adventure led me to pursue my career in a new entity of AXA Global Direct. I held several successive positions as the global pricing teams grew. We built excellent teams in an international and very entrepreneurial context.

In 2018, I joined AXA France to build the “Center of Pricing Excellence” and help the local pricing teams to refine and industrialise their existing pricing methods and processes.

Finally in June 2020, I decided to join the insurtech Wakam to support its international growth and expansion.

 

Why this turn in your career after so many years at AXA?

Big companies are very formative and can offer the opportunity to work on large-scale projects. Indeed, I have spent almost 20 years in this environment, working in many different positions without ever getting bored. If you are looking for a well-defined job, to be part of a group with defined processes, to gain experience and to have a certain stability, a big international firm seems to meet these expectations perfectly.

However, with the explosion of the insurtech ecosystem, I simply wanted to explore these new distribution approaches in the insurance world. The opportunity that arose at Wakam corresponded perfectly to this desire. At Wakam, we are immersed in an insurtech culture, but we are also in partnership with many start-ups in different European countries. A change of scenery is guaranteed. Working in this environment requires a deeper commitment. You shouldn’t arrive with too many certainties but rather with a positive attitude of looking for solutions. You must also participate fully in the growth and success of the company in order to fulfil your potential. In the end, it requires a very entrepreneurial attitude to see opportunities where others do not.

 

Wakam is an insurtech with strong values (freedom, curiosity, excellence…) Has its corporate culture brought a new dynamic to your way of working?

At Wakam, everything moves very fast. The progress we’ve made in only 2 years is incredible. All “Wakamees” are free to tackle tasks of any scale and proactivity means not just taking orders from the boss but suggesting actions to customers to improve the product or service.

In such a culture, the executives are behaving like coaches rather than typical managers. In other words, it’s more about accompanying those who “move mountains” to help them reach their goal and  realise their ideas. This is a very different attitude from what I have seen in bigger companies. At Wakam, we cultivate a mentality of entrepreneurs who see the same reality as others, but who manage to find ways to transform it. Of course, this creates a whole new dynamic that requires a strong team spirit and the ability to take risks. Facing obstacles is also our daily routine.

 

What do you like most about your job at Wakam?

In such a varied and dynamic environment, you learn at high speed. It’s very satisfying and challenging. I have an incredibly passionate and dedicated team, really! They are very motivated people who are progressing very quickly. It’s great to support them in their progress. The human relationships are very enriching at Wakam.

 

Your team is made up of various profiles (end-to-end and pre-sales). How does this impact your role as Chief Product and Pricing Officer?

I am responsible for several teams: Advanced Pricing Analytics, Pre-sales Pricing, Products and Underwriters. These are teams that are growing very fast. In 2 years, we have gone from a very small team to 25 people (and we are still growing!). Together with my managers, we have succeeded in building high-performance teams with great cohesion, where each person is in their place. It’s a mix of balance and complementarity in our approach to managing projects with collective objectives. On a daily basis, I simply try to live up to their ambitions.

 

Can you tell us about one of the challenging projects you are currently working on at Wakam?

There are a lot of very important projects at Wakam. It is challenging to manage them all at the same time. However, with our rapid growth, we are focusing on the industrialisation of our processes and practices. In this context, I can probably mention the project to develop our APIs, which will allow us not only to manage our numerous pricing models but also to collect data dynamically to allow almost instantaneous pricing adjustments. This is a high impact project that brings together the pricing, IT and data teams.

 

What are the current and future challenges for all those working in pricing?

Most pricing teams are sitting on a huge wealth of strategic information. In the course of their work, they accumulate a ton of performance data that could be used to better inform several strategic decisions. Providing data to decision makers is a key responsibility for most pricing teams. But doing it right is a significant challenge.

 

According to Women in Finance, less than 30% of senior managers in finance are women. What advice would you give women to reach the highest positions?

Shirley Chisholm, the first black female member of the US Congress, once said, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” Women must continue to demand their place in leadership and decision-making. We must remain authentic. We must not misrepresent who we are. As a woman, I certainly don’t have the same way of managing teams as a man and this is exactly how I make a difference.

 

An experience during your career that has marked you the most?

My experience is the fruit of an incremental learning process, an alchemical relationship between its different constituents. Everything is important – every encounter, every project, every assignment. To cut them out or isolate them would be to reduce them. At times, details that seemed insignificant before come back to me with great precision. It is a whole that leaves its mark as it goes along.

 

A lesson learned during your career?

To really believe in the intelligence of people and their full potential. I believe that simplicity and common sense have a bright future.

 

If you could change one thing about your job?

Not only in my job, but more generally, I aspire to a more inclusive and tolerant society that is open to differences with a kind of collective intelligence. It is an intelligence that can be learned, maintained, and passed on.

 

Let’s finish with our last signature question, the one we ask everyone to end an interview. Whether personal or professional: what would you like to do that you haven’t done yet?

In general, I make my choices in accordance with my intuitions, so it’s not a question of daring, but rather of maturing ideas or the right moment. I dream of certain trips to discover very different ways of life, but compatible with the climate challenges. An idea that needs to mature further.

 

Thank you very much for your time and your answers.