Chris Williams, Chairman of International Business at Tokio Marine Group, has over 50 years in global insurance. He discusses Tokio Marine's transformation from a Japanese insurer to a global powerhouse, earning 75% of its profits overseas. Chris reflects on his career journey, navigating changes in medical coverage and athlete insurance. He emphasizes the importance of retaining talent in mergers and acquisitions while addressing investment strategies during the pandemic, including unique real estate opportunities and specialty insurance sectors.
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Career Journey From Lloyd's To Tokio Marine
Chris Williams began his insurance career in Australia then moved to Lloyd's and later to the US where he built a long career culminating at HCC and Tokio Marine.
He joined Tokio Marine after the 2015 acquisition of HCC and later became Chairman of International Business.
insights INSIGHT
Federated Global Expansion Worked
Tokio Marine transformed from a Japan-focused insurer into a global group where roughly 75% of earnings now come from overseas.
The company uses a federated acquisition model that preserves acquired brands and autonomy to retain talent and performance.
insights INSIGHT
Preserve Acquired Businesses' DNA
Tokio Marine deliberately preserves the identity and leadership of acquired companies to maintain performance and talent retention.
Most senior people from acquisitions remain with the group and businesses are larger today than at purchase.
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Today’s Episode is exceptional because in terms of his seniority and the sheer size and global nature of his role, my guest is in a very small peer group.
Chris Williams is Chairman of International Business at the Tokio Marine Group and that means he helps oversee a business with a $75bn dollar balance sheet and 44,000 employees, operating in over 40 countries.
Only a handful of my guests on this show in the last five years have a role of such global depth and breadth.
An Australian who has worked in London and spent most of his career in the US, Chris is very much a model citizen of the global specialist insurance and reinsurance world that this podcast looks to serve.
In the past twenty years Tokio Marine Group has embarked on a highly successful internationalisation strategy that has entailed multiple blue-chip acquisitions in countries all over the world.
This has turned it from a dominant Japanese insurer with only around 3% of earnings coming from overseas into a global force that already makes around 75% of its earnings outside of Japan, with that proportion almost certain to continue growing over time.
Chris joined the group through its 2015 acquisition of HCC so in many ways is the personal embodiment of this strategy.
This podcast is a great distillation of that Tokio global plan and where it may be heading next, but it’s also a chance to pick the brains of an industry veteran who can combine a fifty-year career with a genuinely global overview.
Chris’s views on the rise of MGAs, the prospects for renewed M&A in 2025, the best application of AI, the debates over rate and reserve adequacy in the casualty space and the overall state of the global market are all unequivocally and candidly expressed here.
Chris is exceptionally good company and I caught him on great form in this podcast.
He may be one of the most senior executives in our world but at heart he still comes across as a genuine, down-to-earth Australian who tells things the way he sees them.
The fact that he has seen so much in such a wide and varied career just makes this Episode all the more valuable.
Listen on and you’ll see what I mean. I guarantee you’ll enjoy it and learn a huge amount.
We also thank audio advertiser, The Insurance Network (TIN), organiser of the highly-successful TINtech events series. This week they are advertising their successful TINtech London Market event, which will be happening on 4th February 2025.
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