While insurance coverage broking and danger administration are associated, working within the two fields requires a special manner of taking a look at issues, in response to somebody who has labored in each industries.
Corporate Risk and Insurance caught up with Sharon Xu (pictured above), director for Asia-Pacific insurance coverage at Marriott Risk Management, on how she made the transition from broking to danger administration, and the varied challenges and rewards she encountered alongside the best way.
Xu started her skilled profession by becoming a member of a London-based worldwide insurance coverage dealer agency after graduating from college. She began by servicing the dealer agency’s international purchasers’ native operations in China, together with inserting property and legal responsibility insurance coverage for big international firms like Avon, B&Q, Koch, Nokia, Monsanto, Tiffany, Wrigley. During her time there, she received a number of firm awards in shopper retention and excellence in compliance. She was even named the corporate’s greatest worker in Asia.
“I spent two years in Shanghai, from 2005 to 2007, and moved back to Beijing to establish from the ground up a competent North China team,” Xu mentioned. “I had the privilege of working with totally different international purchasers’ danger managers and insurance coverage officers. From there, I’ve acquired a superb understanding about how danger administration seems to be at exposures and the way they strategize on their firm’s insurance coverage construction.
“Since then, my role expanded into the energy insurance sector, focusing on oil and gas refinery and production projects. I was head of the energy downstream department and deputy general manager of energy department between 2008 and 2015, when we placed construction and operational property and liability insurance for a number of large refinery projects that were the first of their kind in China, all including foreign direct investment.”
Xu mentioned that in 2015, Marriott was on the lookout for somebody to deal with its insurance coverage wants in Asia-Pacific, so she utilized and was accepted.
“I was selected thanks to my sound experience of servicing multinational companies and my technical experience of handling multiple lines of coverage for clients across various industries and countries,” she mentioned.
According to Xu, the transition from insurance coverage broking to danger administration was “challenging”, because of the industries’ totally different views.
“For example, a broker’s job is making proposals to the client on different options, based on information they’ve collected from client,” Xu mentioned. “The dealer obtains probably the most aggressive insurance coverage protection phrases for shopper’s greatest curiosity. The dealer explains a proposal’s professionals and cons to their shopper, which facilitates shopper’s insurance coverage procurement choice.
“On the other hand, a proactive corporate risk manager knows very well the company’s business, and they are very clear about the exact risk exposures that impact the company’s operation. Risk management drives insurance procurement by educating the broker of the risks that have already been filtered by the risk management function, guiding the broker on which gaps of coverage to attend to, modelling rates and deductibles (if the company has large enough historical data), and recommending its preferred premium allocation methodology. Risk managers provide clear guidance for brokers to produce a more targeted insurance proposal that specifically addresses the company’s concerned key risk exposures. Both parties work toward the same clear goal.”
Xu mentioned the hardest challenges she faces as a danger supervisor for one of many largest resort manufacturers on this planet is recovering from the disruption brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Many hotels in the market were forced to close down or to shrink operations,” she mentioned. “The top challenge, in my view, is caused by the headwinds in the insurance marketplace, especially the hardening casualty insurance market following COVID. This has added pricing pressure across the board, including the primary layer and excess umbrella layer liability insurance markets.”
Xu mentioned that the hospitality enterprise encompasses all kinds of segments, every so technical and profound in its personal nature, that even one small loss prevention undertaking entails professionals from totally different backgrounds.
“In my opinion, a good risk manager is the one who knows everything about the company and who has connections with every discipline of the company,” she mentioned. “Only by this way can a risk manager proactively mobilize its internal resources to execute the company’s risk mitigation plan, enhance its operation safety and improve its insurance claims record.”
“My most rewarding moment is receiving my business partner’s feedback after training about how they believe they can do better in preventing an incident, including even the smallest things like wearing PPE when using sharp objects,” Xu mentioned. “This means much more to the organization, when we see insurance claims performance improving in terms of loss frequency and loss quantum as a result of [a] hotel implementing our recommended loss mitigation measures and after our continued training about real insurance claims examples.”
Xu has the next recommendation for her fellow danger professionals.
“First, build up your own insurance technical knowledge and skillset because these are the fundamental bases to become a qualified risk manager,” Xu mentioned. “Second, always keep on learning things that are beyond your area of expertise. Never stay in the status quo because the companies that we are working for and the insurance market are evolving so rapidly, so a risk manager must also be very adaptive to new environments.”