A major insurer just added a global insurance heavyweight to its Canadian ranks. Urs Uhlmann (pictured) has been appointed XL Catlin’s CEO and country manager for Canada, a market he’s familiar with thanks to positions he’s held throughout a lengthy career.
“I would call myself probably an insurance practitioner through and through – it’s all I’ve ever done,” said Uhlmann, who spent five years as CEO, Global Corporate for Zurich Canada and, earlier, was the senior VP of Global Corporate and a key member of the Canada commercial markets strategy team.
The leader initially started out working for an insurer in Switzerland before switching companies to get more international exposure, which is when he got the opportunity to visit Canada. After some time working in this market, he has insight into what makes it unique – for one, its reliance on the natural resources sector in the west, and manufacturing and transportation sectors in the east, which affects the commercial insurance offerings. Being next to the largest economy in the world also has its own ramifications.
“The two insurance markets are actually quite different,” he explained. “If you are a commercial insurer and you operate, even if it’s just in North America, you want to make sure that the people you deal with that provide you the services – your brokers, your insurers – understand the different aspects on both sides of the border.”
Similar issues do plague Canada and its neighbour – flood risk, for instance, and natural catastrophes broadly speaking that led to substantial losses in the past year. While the new CEO and country manager told Insurance Business that the industry is adapting well to changes in the market caused by the environment, he does pinpoint a few stumbling blocks.
“One of the challenges that insurance companies have are accumulations, meaning one event can trigger multiple policies at the same time, whether that’s a natural catastrophe, but that’s also true in the cyber space. Managing that is probably one of the most difficult parts that the industry has as a whole, and that an insurer has,” said Uhlmann.
On the natural disaster front, if there’s an earthquake in Vancouver that disrupts the lives of thousands of people and businesses, insurers might be overwhelmed with the administrative work that is needed to help insureds and get them back on their feet faster – critical for businesses that lose money for every day that their doors aren’t open.
“One thing that always surprised me a little bit working in this market, particularly when it comes to natural catastrophes, is actually the fact that insureds, so our policyholders, and even our brokers, very rarely ask us about the administrative capacity to handle the claims,” said Uhlmann. “Insurers are very diligently regulated, by regulators or rating agencies or their own shareholders, to make sure that we have the financial capacity to deal with that kind of an event, but very rarely are we asked to prove that we have the administrative capacity to handle the losses, and I think that’s a really important aspect if you’re a buyer of commercial insurance, because it can impact your business for many years to come.”
The commercial space has room to improve in other ways as well, like digital innovation.
“When it comes to digital interaction, we’re still lagging the personal lines space, but the good news is there’s lots of activities going on. I think the way companies try to deal with it or the market tries to deal with it is obviously by applying those technologies to make those customer interactions easier and work better with the data that is available,” said Uhlmann. “We at XL, in addition to trying to use technology for ourselves, trying to help brokers in a facilitation process, we also invest through XL Innovate in insurtech ventures that are trying to apply those innovative technologies in the commercial insurance space.”
XL Catlin is in a good position to serve the Canadian commercial customer because of its global reach, according to Uhlmann, and the many products and services it brings to the table.
“I’m very excited to actually find ways to leverage that better for our Canadian customers and brokers bringing it to the market maybe more prominently than we have in the past. I think there is a wealth of capabilities that we can bring to our Canadian customer that they have not experienced in its full range.”
