Consolidation is condemned by most brokers. However, there is one field where it is boosting the market - expatriate PMI. Andy Cook reports
In the good old days, as many brokers will tell you, there were as many risk carriers to choose from as there are grains of sand on a beach. That, of course, has changed. Consolidation has left the industry with a few mega carriers and a few niche players fitting in around them.
While most brokers say consolidation is a bad thing, a few are beginning to feel the benefit. Allianz Worldwide Care sales and marketing manager Claude Daboule says that globalisation and the mergers and acquisitions that contribute to it, are boosting the market for expatriate private medical care.
"We estimate there are 13,000 multinational companies divided equally between Europe, the United States and Japan," says Daboule from her office in an unfinished business park on the outskirts of Dublin.
She explains that, as western companies expand into the eastern economies, they need to transfer skills and knowledge into these economies. And that usually means moving people from the west to the east.
Booming market
"To be blunt, healthcare standards are not as high in the east as they are in the west," says Daboule. And she should know. She was born and bred in Lebanon before working extensively in the Middle East.
All these factors add up to a booming market. One exception is construction. Daboule explains that because many construction projects are roads and dams in the middle of nowhere, medical facilities are often provided by contractors on site.
Daboule has been with Allianz Worldwide Care since it started two years ago. Now the company has 75 staff. "We have 15 different nationalities speaking 14 different languages," she says proudly.
But what makes one expatriate medical care provider different from another? Is it the underwriting? Daboule thinks most of the suppliers, including AXA/PPP Healthcare, Bupa and Signum, have similar underwriting expertise and base most of their pricing on claims experience.
Daboule says that only service standards and the way they are implemented can win over the market. This, of course, is consistent with the aspirations of most players in the market.
Daboule is frustrated by even the smallest details of service. "When I first started over here, I had a hotel room. I booked a wake-up call for 6.30am. And when the call came, the girl said `this is your wake-up call' . And that was it, I wanted to say thank you or something, but she was gone. That's what I mean by service," she says.
While it is early days for Allianz, it has picked up some big clients including Volkswagen, Daimler Chrysler, Standard Chartered Bank and the Hilton hotel chain. But, says, Daboule, Allianz is still finding it hard to break through to some brokers.
"I had one client that wanted to use us, but its broker would not even call us, even when it requested us," she says shaking her head disbelievingly.
"How can the broker say it is giving a service if it doesn't listen to the client?"
While Daboule is discreet about how the new business is doing, she says that it is on target and it would be foolish to be ahead, because if you don't have the claims staff to support the business, you can easily get a bad reputation.
