A look back at the career of new Aviva CEO Amanda Blanc

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As Amanda Blanc takes over from the departing Maurice Tulloch, Insurance Times takes a look back at an insurance career that spans more than 30 years

Amanda Blanc has made a big splash on her return to the top table of insurance, with Aviva announcing she has been named the insurer’s new chief executive after Maurice Tulluch stepped down due to family health reasons.

This is a big appointment for Aviva, and they have chosen a big name to lead them forward.

Blanc is well-liked by brokers, and they have been quick to react to the news. Aston Lark chief executive described her as “an absolute pro” and welcomed the appointment as “great news” that reconfirms the insurer’s commitment to the general insurance market.`

So, with Blanc taking the helm of an insurer once again, Insurance Times takes a look back at an insurance career that started back in 1989, and has seen the colourful leader hold powerful positions across the industry.

Blanc: The early years

Blanc’s career in insurance started at Commercial Union, now part of Aviva, which she joined in 1989 after completing a Bachelor’s Degree in Modern History from the University of Liverpool.

She held a number of different management roles during her nine years at Commercial Union, and, after a year as a senior management consultant at EY, Blanc joined AXA in 1999 as regional director.

Blanc’s first stint at AXA lasted four years before she joined Groupama in 2003 as the insurance group’s distribution and customer services director.

Next on Blanc’s career path was a move into broking, and she joined Towergate as chief executive of the group’s retail broking division in 2006, before becoming group deputy chief executive three years later.

Back at AXA

Just a year later however, Blanc was back at AXA UK, rejoining the insurer as chief executive of the commercial lines business, which included the insurer’s broking unit, Bluefin Insurance Group, bought by Marsh at the end of 2016.

The FCA would later find that between 9 March 2011 and 31 December 2014 Bluefin had been misleading customers with regards to its ownership by AXA and failing to safeguard against conflict of interests that arose as a result.

In December 2017 Bluefin would be fined £4m for these infringements.

Blanc, meanwhile, continued to climb the corporate ladder at AXA, taking on responsibility for the insurer’s personal intermediary business in addition to commercial lines in 2012, before moving on to the role of general insurance chief executive of AXA UK in 2015.

It was during this time that she was named the Insurance Times’s Insurer CEO’s CEO twice, claiming the award in 2013 and 2015 in recognition of the work she carried out at AXA, as well as during her spell as president of the Chartered Institute of Insurance.

Fast forward to 2016 and Blanc was named the group chief executive of AXA UK, PPP and Ireland.

Five-Star-Ratings-Commercial-Lines

Click here to see how brokers rate Aviva, AXA and Zurich in commercial lines insurance.

Zurich Calling

In April 2018, however, news broke that Blanc’s time at AXA was coming to an end and it was revealed that she would be joining rival insurer Zurich as chief executive of Europe, the Middle East and Asia (EMEA).

Blanc’s tenure would prove to be a difficult one however, with the UK and Germany dragging down premiums across Zurich’s EMEA region, and in July 2019 Blanc announced the news that she would be resigning after just eight months in the role, meaning that she would also have to step down as chair of the ABI after becoming the first woman to fill the position.

There was a lot of speculation surrounding her exit, with some suggesting that there was a big personality clash between Blanc and her Italian boss Mario Greco, and that his approach to doing business defied what Blanc believed in so strongly that she took the initiative and simply walked out the door.

Brokers, meanwhile, were shocked and disappointed by her departure, with many saying they were hoping for Blanc’s speedy return to the industry.

Aviva, it turns out is the point of that return, with Blanc now charged with leading the insurer forward and out of the turmoil created by the Covid-19 pandemic.

And her new employers will be hoping Blanc brings some of the same magic shown during her time at AXA, as she looks to make Aviva “the leader in our industry again”.