Brokers hope for quick Amanda Blanc industry return after ‘big loss to Zurich’

Amanda Blanc’s shock resignation as Zurich EMEA chief executive will be a massive blow to the insurer according to brokers.

The announcement came yesterday night, with all brokers Insurance Times spoke with expressing huge surprise. Blanc only joined Zurich from rival AXA in October last year.

Industry stalwart Mark Cliff managed Blanc when he headed up AXA’s commercial division. Blanc was regional head of the north at the time. He described her as ‘an amazing individual’.

“Even back then she’s always been very driven, very talented, and very focussed on the customer. In the industry these people are paramount,” Cliff said. “That must be a big loss for Zurich. It will be hard to fill those shoes.

“I don’t know if she’s going into another role or what’s prompted her decision, but Amanda is immensely talented and I have no doubt she will reappear, as it’s clear the industry needs people like Amanda to be an integral part of the industry.”

Reasons

Sara Fardon, managing director of Willis Towers Watson Networks, said Blanc’s broker background meant she had always had a good understanding of how to work with brokers.

She said Blanc must have a very good reason for leaving after such a short amount of time.

“It is going to be surprising news for anybody to make such a move as she did, and then to go after such a short space of time, so for some reason something’s not working,” Fardon said.

“It will absolutely be a big blow to Zurich. She is a quality individual. They hired her because she was good, and so she will be a loss to them, but of course we don’t know the reasons why she has left at the moment.

“Obviously any one company is bigger than one individual, so from Zurich’s perspective they’ll have to reappoint and find the right person for that, but it’ll be a surprise that she’s gone and over time we’ll find out the reasons why.”

Return

Matt Munro, chief executive of telematics broker IG04, knew Blanc from her time at AXA. He said AXA had been very supportive while the company was starting out, and that Blanc was a big backer of industry innovation.

“When she was at AXA she absolutely supported us from day one on a whole host of fronts, so I think the industry needs her back,” Munro said.

“They were one of our first supporting insurers when I set IGO4 up, and they were always incredibly supportive product wise, with financial support and on a whole host of different things.

“She was always very keen to see how we were doing and to see that they were being as innovative as a big insurer can be. So I imagine that’s going to be a big loss for Zurich.”