Sompo International to integrate international businesses
Sompo International Holdings (SI) is integrating all the operations of Sompo Holdings outside Japan by establishing a new retail platform.
SI said that it has recently completed the integration of the business operations and staff of Sompo America and that the integration of Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance Company of Europe will be completed shortly. SI will establish a new retail platform which reflects the different business and operational needs of its current commercial property and casualty business (P&C) and the Sompo Holdings overseas retail businesses.
Sompo Holdings has 45 licensed entities spanning 32 countries throughout Europe, North and South America, Asia and Oceania, the Middle East and Africa. The company said that it is planning to bring all international businesses outside Japan under the ownership of SI by 2020.
Through this new retail platform within SI, Sompo Holdings will launch a new Eco System function which will benefit all of the company’s retail businesses around the globe by sharing expertise across countries and collaborating on the development of future products and underwriting models. SI has established a new SI retail executive team which it said is central to successfully developing a global retail business to complement its existing P&C business. The SI board of directors will have operational oversight and provide strategy for both divisions operating through their respective executive teams.
“Our vision is to build the first truly global integrated insurance and reinsurance business,” said Kengo Sakurada, president & chief executive officer of Sompo Holdings. “In the last year, SI, under John Charman’s leadership, has assumed oversight for all international commercial property and casualty products. SI has also launched several key strategic initiatives to expand certain specialty lines of business as well as its increasing presence in Europe. The integration of our international retail business is the next vital step in fulfilling our shared strategic vision.”
John Charman, chairman and chief executive officer of SI, added, “We remain steadfastly focused on our core commercial business, and the opportunities to build on our success with Sompo Holdings’ financial support, geographic reach and licensing capabilities. At the same time, we are extremely excited to assume operational oversight and provide strategy for the international retail business of Sompo Holdings as we move forward rapidly to create and grow a highly profitable, integrated global platform that will be unique in the history of our industry.”
