RSA is gearing up to develop its global broker relationships, expand its share of international brokers’ books and develop its speciality lines with the appointment of Paul Donaldson as group broker relationship and sales director, according to UK boss Adrian Brown.
Brown said the appointment, announced this morning, reflected changes in the way global brokers such as Aon, Marsh and Willis do business.
Going global
“We see the global brokers acting more globally, they are all galvanizing their organisations to be more joined-up across the piece, though they are all structured slightly differently,” he told Insurance Times.
“We see a number of the global brokers talking about reducing the number of carriers they do business with from thousands to hundreds, so clearly that’s an opportunity for us.
“Myself, [chief executive, international] Simon Lee and [chief executive, emerging markets] Paul Whittaker have been taking on a cross business view for the global brokers in addition to our day jobs, and we felt it was time to up the ante on that and have someone whose job it was to make sure we are facing off to brokers in the right way across the globe.”
Developing specialties
He added that the second major part of Donaldson’s new role would be setting up a global risk solutions and specialities board to develop speciality lines such as marine and renewables worldwide.
Asked why Donaldson had been selected for the new role, Brown said: “You can only bring people together if you know all the people. Internally, Paul is well liked, well respected and he’s not going into that job to create an empire.
“We want someone in there who raises the game for us and utilises all their connections internally and externally – I don’t think you could find anyone better than Paul to bring all that together for us.”
‘Business as usual’
Brown added that it would be business as usual in the UK, where Jon Hancock takes over from Donaldson following a handover on July 1.
Hancock, currently RSA’s chief executive in Asia and the middle east, will not be overhauling RSA’s strategy or making any major structural changes.
Brown said: “You will not see a massive reorganisation as a result of this. This is about someone coming into carry on the good work. There will be no job cuts or anything like that.”
Asked whether Hancock, who has worked abroad for many years, would struggle with all-important broker relationships in the commercial market, Brown said: “Jon knows what you need to do to win in this market; his core strength will be in broker relationships.
"He knows how important that is and has done it in other markets and enjoys doing it.”
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