According to our estimates, the degree of mediation in the B2B segment in Serbia, i.e., the percentage of insurance that’s managed by brokers, is only 20-25%. If we take the Romanian market as a benchmark, where around 70% of premiums are mediated by brokers, I would say that we can expect the strong growth of operations in the future!
Marsh represents the largest risk advisor and insurance broker in the world and the top broker in Serbia and the Adria region. In our conversation with Liliana Lapadatoni, Marsh Adria CEO, we discovered the most important risks facing the company in Serbia and around the world, before also discussing Marsh Adria services.
“Talking about global risks with local effects or local specifics, I would like to mention the 17th edition of the Global Risks Report, published by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with Marsh McLennan. “It surveys executives who could choose up to five risks that they view as being the most important for doing business. Let’s zoom in, starting from a global perspective to a local one. Globally, the pandemic is still a major concern, followed by needs to strengthen climate action, enhance digital safety, restore livelihoods and societal cohesion, and managing competition in space,” explains Lapadatoni.
Closer to home, at the European level, the top concerns of executives for the next two years are: 1. Climate action failure; 2. Debt crises in large economies; 3. Erosion of social cohesion; 4. Prolonged economic stagnation and; 5. Failure of cybersecurity measures.
From the perspective of Serbian executives, the top five risks are: 1. Human-made environmental damage; 2. Debt crises in large economies; 3. Employment and livelihood crises; 4. Digital inequality and; 5. Geopoliticisation of strategic resources.
To what extent do companies in Serbia generally value the risk advisor and insurance broker industry as their support in preserving and continuing development?
– It is our responsibility, as market leader, to better explain to local companies the added value of a risk advisor and insurance broker. Some of the key questions we address with our clients from various industries include: What are my major risks? What is the impact of those risks on my business? How can I better manage my total cost of risk?
Our teams are constantly focused on providing innovative risk transfer solutions for emerging and systemic risks, including climate, cyber and space
The degree of intermediation, the percentage of inurance managed by brokers, is very high on mature markets. In the UK, for example, it stands at around 90%. In Serbia’s corporate B2B segment, it totals around 20-25%, based on our estimates. If we take the Romanian market as a benchmark, where 70% of premiums are intermediated by brokers, I would say that we have a nice growth journey ahead of us!
We live in a fast-changing world: pandemics, wars, financial crises. What new risk management solutions is Marsh offering its clients?
– We have always brought an unrivalled combination of various industry-specific expertise, with both local and global experience, to the variety of risks that companies face.
Just to give you an example: COVID-19, as an outbreak that caused a global emergency, has had far-reaching effects on people, travel, supply chains and economies globally, representing a unique crisis. Still, pandemic risk is not a “new” risk and we have always included pandemic scenarios, together with preparedness measures for companies, as part of the business resiliency plans that we provide and in our risk advisory services: risk assessments, crisis management planning, scenario testing.