News of Blanc’s appointment was seen as positive by a broad swathe brokers, but not everyone welcomed the move

Aviva’s appointment of Amanda Blanc as its new chief executive is confirmation of the broker’s commitment to general insurance (GI), according to brokers Insurance Times spoke to today.

Aviva announced this morning that Maurice Tulloch had chosen to leave the business for family health reasons.

According to Peter Blanc, chief executive at Aston Lark, she loves GI. He told Insurance Times: “Aviva is committed to the general insurance sector, so appointing [Blanc] is great news as it reconfirms the importance of the GI sector to that business.

”[Blanc] is an absolute pro who has ‘been there, done it and got the t-shirt’. It’s great to see Amanda back in an exec role. She was far too young to be a non-exec.”

But he said that he expects a shake-up at global level perhaps, but not the UK which he said is functioning well.

“From a broker perspective we’re really happy with the UK GI space. I suspect the UK GI space will not see a radical shake-up.

”It will just be an ongoing process of making sure she retains the best talent they have got in that business.

”The changes will be more global level on the M&A front, looking at what strategies there are to buy or dispose of assets on the global front,” the Aston Lark boss added.

Meanwhile, Andy Homer, ex-Towergate chief executive, said: ”I have known Amanda since the 1980s when she joined as a graduate as commercial union. I took her to AXA. I think she is a highly competent leader. Absolutely the perfect choice for Aviva. 

”The big difference that she will make is that she will create a strategy - which I don’t hink they’ve got at the moment. 

”We have female leader in the FTSE 100, which is great. What she will bring is different skill sets and new people. I would be surprised if they did not bring her own team.”

Ashwin Mistry, chairman at Brokerbility told Insurance Times that Blanc is “a great internal appointment following Tulloch’s decision”.

He said: ”Tulloch brought about energy , pace and charisma. He will be missed. He understood grass root Insurance.

”Blanc’s appointment is very positive from news from Broker perspective as she knows perfectly too well the challenges Brokers face.

”Her deep knowledge of GI is most welcome and coupled with a great team beneath her, Blanc will have our continued support. The market needs a stable and strong Aviva, here and now.”

And Biba’s chief executive, Steve White said: “We know [Blanc] well and look forward to working closely with her as the head of one of the UK’s leading insurers.”

Meanwhile, Branko Bjelobaba, managing director at Branko Ltd added: “Good to see Amanda at the helm of Aviva and a return to a major chief executive position.

”I am sure she will steer Aviva through the current unprecedented maelstrom and support the brokers that do business with them exceptionally well.”

’Readymade replacement’

However, Blanc has been on Aviva’s board since December last year as a non-executive after leaving Zurich last year in July, and so already knows the strengths and weaknesses of the business.

Paul De’Ath, head of market intelligence at Oxbow partners told Insurance Times: “Aviva has a readymade replacement for Tulloch in Blanc.

“The big question for investors and Aviva’s peers will be whether Blanc will look to make any significant changes to the strategy that her predecessor had so recently set out.

“There may be a question of whether the plans to make Aviva better announced in November 2019 were radical enough for some stakeholders.”

Although De’Ath added that Aviva remains the only large composite insurer in the UK and some have suggested that the life and non-life businesses should go their separate ways.

“However, the capital diversification provided by the two businesses continues to make a split difficult to achieve from a financial perspective,” De’Ath said.

Howard Lickens, chief executive at Clear Group told Insurance Times: “Brokers will be very sorry to lose Maurice especially if it is due to family health problems. We wish him and his family all the very best.

”Aviva is very lucky to have someone like Amanda “in the wings” ready to step in. [Blanc] has shown her quality throughout her career and having broken through yet another glass ceiling I’m sure she will do a great job at Aviva.

”On the UK GI front, however, I hope she doesn’t feel the need to shake Aviva up too vigorously as they been one of the best and most consistent performers for some time and too much change could subject them to the travails of so many others in the market.”

’Patching and mending’

However, Trident Insurance chairman Rob Marshall highlighted the difficulties Blanc faces.

Speaking to Insurance Times, he said: ”Given how much she’s already doing [other non-executive director roles], either she’s going to give everything up and give a full week, each week looking after Aviva, or she’s only a part-time chief executive.

”But she can’t be both given all her other commitments.

“It’s good that there’s a woman leading the charge for female chief executives, because there’s nowhere near enough, but I do think the move is like patching and mending. It’s not addressing the underlying problems that Aviva has.

”The problem with Aviva is there are always different things going on at the same time.

”People are lost on what their real plans are - both shareholders and people who have to deal with them.

”Either aviva are going to isolate themselves to the UK market only, or they’re a global brand. If they’re a global brand, then hiring someone with a strong UK background is absolutely academic.

”If they’re only going to address the UK, what are they going to do with the rest of it, unless they’re intending to flog it all off?

”You have to wonder what it is she’s going to do, other than tidy up the shop.

”They have had plans in the last few years that haven’t come to fruition. You can’t just change the captain and assume that everything falls into place.

”It’s a bit like a football team. The chief executive only has a limited capacity to make a lot of difference. It’s the players that matter within the team. 

 

Maurice Tulloch

Read more… New Aviva boss Tulloch faces steep challenge 

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