Executive Meeting with Jaime Anchústegui

Spain is one of the countries with the best management of insurance companies

• The insurance sector will change completely with the new IRFS17 regulation
• Sustainability is one of the main pillars for the Generali group, so much so that it sets its agenda
• "We are no longer recruiting people who happen to come into the industry by chance. We now look for the best talent," says Generali's International CEO.

We present the fifth interview of the 2022 Executive Meetings, in which Dr. Casilda Güell, Dean of the school, has interviewed Jaime Anchústegui Melgarejo, International CEO of the insurer Generali.

Anchústegui, who began his professional career as an agricultural engineer, changed profession more than 30 years ago when agriculture in Spain entered the common market. Since then, and after completing an MBA, he has focused on the insurance sector.

"In the insurance world today, they are recruiting the best talent from the best universities"

"When I started, on a trip to Mexico, I was asked about the path of failure that had led me to work in the insurance sector. At that time, people often ended up in insurance by chance, including myself. The International CEO of Generali claims that they have transitioned from working with individuals who never dreamed of developing their professional careers in the insurance industry to a point where they are recruiting the best talent, the brightest minds from the top universities."

"The first and most important trend at the moment is the concept of sustainability"

The best talent can address the challenges and trends in the insurance industry, which are currently driven by sustainability. "The first and most important trend at the moment is the concept of sustainability. Today it is one of the main pillars we have at Generali. Sustainability sets the group's agenda," says Jaime Anchústegui. It is a somewhat global concept, which must be approached from all points of view; sustainability is environmental, social and governance, so it is a very rich term that allows large companies to fight against capitalism.

This trend recently coexists with the war in Ukraine, which for Jaime Anchústegui is going to have a greater impact than Covid-19, as we will have to face double-digit inflation.

"Digitalisation is a challenge of technology, innovation and convincing everyone of the benefits"

In his opinion, in these 30 years talent isn't the only thing that has changed - digitalisation is another of the new challenges that insurance companies must take on, since these new technologies allowed professionals in this field to draw conclusions that not only benefit the customer, but can also benefit companies. "We must exploit the opportunities that we have with the Internet, this ability to use and draw conclusions from customer data for their own benefit, for the benefit of the commercial channels and the company. This is currently one of the key points we have in the insurance sector. It is a technological challenge, a challenge of innovation, of convincing everyone of the benefits of using customer data," he says.

Find out more about the insurance sector in the video podcast of this fifth interview with Generali's International CEO here: