Published: May 2016

New Beginning

A Global Conversation About Organizational Culture: "Millennials are looking for a lot of flexibility, a lot of space to be innovative, a lot of mobility in their careers.

Circle of Trust: Two desks sit in the center of PolicyGenius' Brooklyn office. The "founders' desks," they're called. It's where company co-founders Jennifer Fitzgerald and Francois de Lame work, smack in the middle of the room and flanked by their team.

Coming Together: David King arrives at M&A integration meetings with laminated sheets of paper. On each page is the rationale behind the merger or acquisition--the "deal thesis."

Cultural Compass: Insurance companies around the world are increasingly told they have to actively manage their cultures--specifically their risk cultures.

Culture Matters: On any given day an Acuity Insurance employee might be immersed in a fitness class, enjoying a spirited game of pingpong or savoring a free breakfast at the company's Sheboygan, Wisconsin-based headquarters.

Daily Reminders: A broken dish hangs on the wall of PURE's headquarters. The 12th Century Chinese plate once was a prized piece in a private collection. But it lost its value after a gust of wind knocked it off its display stand and sent it crashing to the floor.

Insight: A Modern Look: English insurance law will undergo dramatic change when the Insurance Act 2015 goes into effect Aug. 12, 2016. Given the pervasiveness of English law and the centrality of the London Market, the change is of global significance.

Insight: Choose Wisely: The pace of transformation in the insurance industry is accelerating dramatically, and nowhere is this more evident than in distribution.

Insight: Stuck in the Middle : Since the end of the Great Recession in 2009, central banks globally have been engaged in multiple rounds of monetary stimulus. They've attempted to jump start their respective economies through competitive devaluations, with very meager results.

Insight: The Right Questions: Embracing a new invention, the stirrup, enabled Genghis Khan to conquer Asia and alter history. By providing stability and leverage to mounted archers, stirrups allowed Khan's warriors to shoot a hundred yards father and much more accurately than their foes.

Insight: Write It Down!: Probably the biggest issue facing the financial services industry is the Department of Labor's new fiduciary rule and how its implementation will affect advisers selling retirement products.

Issues & Answers: Excess & Surplus Lines Showcase: Experts from this competitive, fast-moving industry sector discuss challenges and opportunities, innovative solutions, the need for flexibility and more.

Last Word: The Giving Tree: Aspen's corporate culture isn't just churning within its four walls. It's also far-reaching into communities both home and abroad. Much of those efforts are focused on Uganda--a country plagued with poverty, high infant mortality and diseases such as HIV.

Making a Move: Competitors in the high net worth market are seeking to take advantage of disruption in the sector following the merger of Ace and Chubb, two of the biggest players in that space.

New Beginning: Jennifer Fitzgerald and Francois de Lame used a whiteboard to lay out their vision of corporate culture when they launched PolicyGenius, a digital broker. Ross Buchmueller wrote out statements of his mission, vision and values prior to founding PURE, a high net worth personal lines carrier. And Daniel Schreiber and Shai Wininger laid out their ideas for Lemonade, a peer-to-peer insurer, in a 40-slide "culture deck."

Not Happening: It has been called one of the great comeback stories in business history. Sarah J. Dahlgren, who was the point person for AIG at the New York Fed, says Bob Benmosche's memoir Good for the Money is the story of a once-great company getting a new start.

Riding the Waves: Big swings in stock and bond markets earlier this year have shaken retail and some institutional investors, prompting them to move riskier investments to safe havens.

Specialists in Demand as Companies Seek Profits: Specialty insurance of all kinds now accounts for more than half of U.S. insurance premium, 56%, according to Specialty Insurance: Survival of the Fittest, a new report from Conning Inc..

Spotlight on Energy: Energy-market insurers may feel the heat enough to consider limiting their participation or exiting the market altogether due to an over-supply of capital, as well as falling demand from buyers, caused by cost-cutting in the wake of the oil price crash, according to Willis Towers Watson.

Spotlight on International: More than two-thirds of insurers, brokers and service providers in London's £60 billion (US$85.28 billion) international insurance market say a British exit--or Brexit--from the European Union would be bad for business, according to a recent survey by Haggie Partners.

Take a Stand: Ari Benmosche remembers the lessons he learned from his father, Bob, who headed up MetLife before taking the helm at AIG, and can sometimes hear his voice in his ear as he takes on new challenges.

The Age of the Specialist: Managing general agents are in danger of becoming victims of their own success. They, along with program managers, wholesale brokers and other players in the delegated underwriting sector, have historically produced better returns and faster premium growth than the standard property/casualty market.

The Asian Opportunity: John Deremo clearly remembers the moment he decided to go all-in with expanding AIG's presence in the Asian-American life insurance market.

Turning Point: Daniel Schreiber and Shai Wininger were purposefully candid in recruiting talent to their latest startup, Lemonade. Their goal with Lemonade, a peer-to-peer personal lines carrier, was to reconceptualize insurance.