Greg Case defends GRIP risk transfer tool after Deutsche Bank calls for information withdrawal
Aon chief executive Greg Case has defended his firm’s use of the global risk insight platform (GRIP) system following Deutsche Bank's request that its information be withdrawn from the database.
Speaking at the annual German insurance gathering, the DVS Symposium, on 9 September, Case said that risk managers supported GRIP. According to Insurance Times’s sister publication StrategicRISK, Case said the system, which had been developed over two and a half years, was “overwhelmingly driven” by clients’ needs and helped improve the risk transfer process.
Case added that Aon was transparent with all its clients about the payments it received, and that if any risk manager wanted to remove data from GRIP, Aon would do so.
The electronic GRIP system is used to gather data about risk and insurance across different markets. Brokers can sell this information to industrial insurers, passing the data on anonymously.
Some risk managers are opposed, mainly on anti-competitive grounds, to the idea that any GRIP information should be sold on to insurers. They believe information shared between a broker and its client is confidential. Several companies, including Deutsche Bank, have requested Aon remove their data from the GRIP system.
Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty, Talanx, AXA and Zurich are all understood to have been engaged with Aon over the use of the data, according to Herbert Fromme, a German financial journalist who investigated the story on behalf of StrategicRISK.
Case added that no insurance company worldwide has the depth and breadth of risk information and analysis that Aon holds, and it can be presented in “an integrated” manner to deliver unique benchmarking information.
An Aon spokesman said: "We are happy to explain to any client how we use their data. However, as all data used is aggregated and anonymous, it's impossible to determine individual client data from within GRIP."
