Surprise in the market at Hancock’s decision to leave insurer
Brokers are both surprised and disappointed by UK commercial head Jon Hancock’s departure from RSA to join Lloyd’s.
They are also unsure who will replace him.
Hancock is leaving RSA to join Lloyd’s as director of performance management, a role previously held by Tom Bolt.He will leave RSA at the end of October and take up his new role at Lloyd’s on 1 December.
Brokerbility chairman Ashwin Mistry described Hancock as “a class act” and “a good RSA man through and through”.
He told Insurance Times: “I am really surprised he’s gone. I am personally disappointed to see him go. We have a lot of affinity for RSA and we’re really sad that he’s gone.”
Aston Scott chief executive Peter Blanc said he was “amazed” by the news and was also full of praise for Hancock’s work at RSA.
Blanc said: “As far as we are concerned he has been one of the guys that has been instrumental in doing a great job for us at RSA. He has been a big friend to the business and it will be a real shame to see him go.”
He added: “It is a big loss for all of us brokers, because you take a long time to build up all these relationships and trust with underwriters over the years. Jon has been a really steady hand at the tiller.”
Stackhouse Poland chief executive Tim Johnson described Hancock as “an RSA stalwart”.
He said: “He has been there a long time and has been a good outward facing guy. Most people like him and he has been good.”
Brokers are unsure who will replace him. Blanc said that there were strong executives further down the ranks of RSA, but was not sure whether they would be able to make the jump to the top UK commercial job at RSA.
Blanc said: “There are some good regional development managers and people like that but it would be a massive step up from looking after a bunch of brokers to being in charge of the whole shooting match.”
Mistry agreed, saying that Hancock’s successor “would need market gravitas”.
He suggested that AXA’s Matthew Reed, who was the insurer’s UK commercial intermediary managing director before his shift to a global role at the insurer in June 2014, was an example of an executive with the kind of stature that would be needed.
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