The latest from Allianz, who have decided to separate Commercial and Personal Lines as distinct business units. The move offers real opportunities as Commercial insurance transforms itself following the collpase of High Street retailing and the hospitality sector during the Covid pandemic. Much of that Commercial space will never come back as a viable business, so inner cities will eventually become social housing projects in many cases.
Right now insurers like L&G are already entering the social landlord space, with several keynote apartment projects in the UK, so there is a chance for Allianz to do the same, right across Western Europe. A huge societal shift is being organised by globalists around the world with people seeing their lives tracked, vaxxed, monitored and resticted in terms of travel, in a way not seen in 70 years, since World War II. Insurers can be an integral part of this monitoring process and by managing co-living spaces, they can see buying habits, diet, health activity, work patterns and asset ownership or more likely, rental on-demand, at least as far as vehicles go.
The opportunity is huge.
Allianz Holdings is announcing a strategic restructuring of its operations, to create distinct Personal and Commercial businesses, supported by a number of integrated service functions.
These changes represent the next phase in Allianz’s successful integration of the LV= General Insurance (LV= GI) and L&G General Insurance (L&G GI) businesses and will simplify and streamline its operations. The new structure is designed around customer needs and the opportunity to focus on and share technical excellence and expertise.
Steve Treloar becomes CEO, Allianz Personal and Simon McGinn becomes CEO, Allianz Commercial.
Reporting into Jon Dye, CEO, Allianz Holdings, they will both sit on the Allianz Holdings management board alongside the heads of the service functions – Fernley Dyson, chief financial officer, Julie Harrison, chief HR officer, Stephanie Smith, chief operations officer and John Berry, chief risk officer.
These changes are effective immediately, subject to regulatory approval.
Jon Dye said “These changes are the next step on our journey as we continue to build a well-balanced business that puts the customer at its heart and maintains a clear and resolute focus on delivering our business priorities. There are clear differences between Commercial and Personal trading in the UK market and the new structure will help us build upon the successful propositions already in place.
“Our simplified structure and streamlined, cohesive senior team will enable us to be more agile, responsive and collaborative.”
Allianz Personal
Allianz Personal will comprise the LV= Retail business, LV= Broker, L&G GI, Petplan, Home & Legacy and Allianz Musical Insurance.
Led by Steve Treloar, the new business unit will have gross written premiums of £2.6 billion with 8.5 million customers and around 5,000 employees, making it one of the largest personal lines insurers in the UK.
As well as being CEO of Allianz Personal, Steve will remain CEO of LV= GI. The LV= Retail business will also continue to be led by Heather Smith as managing director, while Mike Crane will maintain responsibility for LV= Broker and L&G GI as managing director and CEO respectively. Kieran O’Keeffe will take up a new role as managing director for specialty, leading the Petplan, Home & Legacy and Allianz Musical Insurance businesses. Prior to taking on this role, Kieran was the chief risk officer for LV= GI.
Steve Treloar said “This is an extremely exciting time for our business. By bringing together all the personal lines brands under one roof it will give us even more strength, scale and expertise to ensure we can cater for a broad range of customers and partners across a large number of different channels. The capabilities we now have mean we have some great opportunities ahead of us and I’m incredibly proud to be leading such a fantastic business.”
Allianz Commercial
Allianz Commercial will comprise Allianz’s Mid-Corp Commercial, Engineering, Construction & Power, SME and Legal Protection businesses.
In his new role as CEO of Allianz Commercial, Simon McGinn will be responsible for distribution, claims, underwriting, marketing and pricing for each of those business areas.
He will work closely with his new executive team which will include Graham Gibson, chief claims officer, who will also be responsible for Engineering Inspection. This brings customer delivery in claims and service under one leader ensuring a clear focus on delivering an exceptional customer experience. Catherine Dixon is promoted to the position of chief underwriting officer, with Nick Hobbs as chief distribution and regions officer, bringing distribution, regional underwriting and commercial broker operations into one place.
Gaby Tischler and Helen Bryant will continue in their roles as director, market management and strategy and director, digital trading respectively. A new director of pricing and data role has also been created with recruitment underway.
Simon McGinn commented: “Our new structure gives us a clear focus on our Commercial business and is designed to provide market-leading levels of support and expertise to deliver for our brokers and customers and maximise our potential in the market. I am proud to lead such an incredibly strong and experienced senior team and I am excited about the opportunities that lie ahead.”
As a result of these changes, a number of senior people within Allianz will be leaving the business. Following 18 successful years in the company, Neil Clutterbuck has decided the time is right to pursue new opportunities. Meanwhile, Sarah Mallaby, Chris Little and Gary Davess will be leaving as a result of their specific roles no longer existing in the new structure.
Commenting on this, Jon Dye said: “Neil, Sarah, Chris and Gary have all made very significant contributions to our business. It’s never easy to see people go but I’m incredibly grateful for all their hard work and commitment and wish them all the best for the future.”
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