Lining up insurance superstars

The International Insurance Society’s
(IIS) Insurance Hall of Fame Award is arguably the most prestigious
in the insurance world, representing an honour bestowed on
inductees by an industry organisation with some 1,000 corporate and
individual members in over 90 countries.

Each year two candidates are inducted into the
IIS’ Hall of Fame, with their selection based on results of a
secret ballot of ISS members. Award nominees are selected by the
IIS honours committee based on a number of criteria including their
“lasting contribution to the insurance industry,” and recognition
by peers as having been “dominant and successful leaders,
innovators or visionaries”.

For the 2010 Hall of Fame awards, the ISS has
named five candidates:

• Yehuda Kahane, Israel

• Frank O’Halloran, Australia

• Manuel Póvoas, Brazil

• David Prosser, UK

• Charles Wang, Taiwan

Significant contributions

Yehuda Kahane, a forty-year
insurance veteran and professor of insurance and finance at
Tel-Aviv University’s Faculty of Management, was selected for his
influential role in the industry and actuarial profession. In its
citation, the ISS noted that he is renowned as a pioneer of new
concepts and ideas, such as balancing pension fund assets and
liabilities, insurance rate making techniques and loss reserving
techniques under inflationary conditions.

An economist and actuary, Kahane, 65, was also
instrumental in forming actuarial groups in Israel, Portugal and
former Soviet Union countries, and has, noted the ISS, had a
“unique impact” on Israel’s insurance industry through
establishment of institutions such as the Israel Academic School of
Insurance.

Australian candidate Frank O’Halloran was
selected for his role in “one of the greatest success stories in
the insurance industry,” general insurer and reinsurer QBE Group.
O’Halloran has been QBE’s CEO since 1998 and was its chief
financial officer between 1982 and 1997.

In its citation, the ISS noted that
O’Halloran, 65, has been directly responsible for some 125
acquisitions by QBE over the past 20 years and has steered it to
become one of the 25 largest insurers in the world. QBE’s market
capitalisation of some $20 billion is 10 times more than it was
when O’Halloran became CEO.

Providing a Latin American flavour to the
award nominations is Manuel Póvoas, described by the ISS as
“trailblazer in both Portugal and Brazil”.

Focus of Póvoas’ award nomination was his role
in the establishment and leadership of Brazil’s first private
pension fund company, Bradesco Vida e Previdência (Bradesco Life
and Annuities), in 1977. This followed the Brazilian government’s
opening up of the pension and annuities market to the private
sector.

Following its establishment, Bradesco Vida
thrived despite serving a population that lacked any experience
with annuities and a shortage of qualified actuaries,
intermediaries, and other professionals, noted the ISS. The society
added that Póvoas also founded and led insurance industry
organisations that influenced insurance in worldwide.

Part of Brazilian bancassurance group
Brandesco, Bradesco Vida reported a 26.1 percent share of Brazil’s
private pensions market in September 2009 and a 32.5 percent share
of the Vida Gerador de Beneficios Livres (VGBL) market. VGBL’s are
a combination of life insurance and survivors’ benefit
contracts.

Representing Britain’s insurance industry in
the 2010 Hall of Fame race is David Prosser who earned his position
as a candidate for his role as Legal & General’s (L&G) CEO
between 1991 and 2006.

In its citation the ISS noted: “Throughout
[Prosser’s] tenure he focused on low cost [and high volume] solutions to meet consumer savings and protection needs, leading to
significant growth and the expansion of L&G’s investment
management business to Britain’s largest institutional fund
manager.”

The ISS added that Prosser broadened L&G’s
business from a traditional life assurance company into a life,
pensions, savings and investment company.

Prosser, 65, will also be remembered for
having steered the 174 year old life insurer through its most
troubled period shortly after his appointment as CEO. This related
to pensions mis-selling by L&G in the late-1980s and resulted
in L&G paying £600 million ($960 million) in compensation and
fines.

The mis-selling scandal also influenced
Prosser’s management style and gained him a reputation for being a
ruthless enforcer of regulatory compliance. “[Prosser] was able to
achieve financial growth from within the company with great
discipline and focus, key traits of leadership,” noted the ISS.

Earning Charles Wang his place on the ISS’
2010 Hall of Fame shortlist is the key role he has played in
building Taiwan’s insurance industry, which today ranks as the 12th
largest in the world.

In its citation, the ISS noted: “Charles Wang
has been instrumental in the growth of the insurance industry in
Taiwan and his life-long dedication has been to enlighten the
Taiwanese insurance industry and promote internationalisation by
introducing advanced insurance know-how and techniques from
abroad.”

According to Swiss Re, in 2008 Taiwan’s life
insurers generated premium income of $52.75 billion and general
insurers premium income of $11.52 billion. The ISS added that
during Wang’s 36-year tenure at three major state-owned companies,
he contributed significantly to the consolidation of the insurance
institutions. In the private sector Wang served as president and
CEO of Swiss insurer Zurich Financial Services’ Taiwan subsidiary
from 1988 to 1998.

From an academic perspective, Wang had 30
years of experience as a professor of risk management and insurance
at various universities in Taiwan, was instrumental in the
establishment of the first risk management and loss control
services in Taiwan and was founder of Taiwan Insurance
Institute.

Illustrious group

The two winners of the 2010 Hall of
Fame Award will be announced at a function to be held in June in
Amman, Jordan, and will join 125 laureates from 22 countries who
have received the award since its institution in 1957.

By far the most winners (59) have been from
the US, followed by the UK (10), Japan (9), Canada (6), Germany
(6), France (5), Switzerland (4), the Netherlands (4), Italy (3),
India (3) and Spain (3).