Belgian consultancy firm, Benevista, has launched an international employee benefits index to raise awareness of the advantages of multinational pooling.
The index contains relevant information about all insurance companies that are linked to an international employee benefits network.
The free application includes information such as the most recent financial ratings, market position, direct contact information and specific product data. In total the database contains information about more than 700 contact persons and 400 insurance companies.
Previously the information on Benevista's website was spread over various documents and websites of the 8 international employee benefits networks, according to the firm.
"The link with the international networks is relevant as they can bring advantages to multinational companies such as cost savings and management information. The search application will therefore be of great interest to compensation & benefits managers, HR managers, risk and finance managers at local, regional or global level of the international organization," the firm said.
Employee Benefits including death, disability, accident and medical insurance are often provided by a local insurer, but if the company belongs to a multinational a pooling structure they can be offered by one of the 8 international networks: All Net (Allianz), Generali, IGP, ING Global Network, Insurope, Maxis (AXA and Metlife), Swiss Life Network and Zurich Employee Benefits Network.
The pooling system combines the financial results of the policies in participating countries and shares back the premium amounts that are not used to cover the current costs of the policies. This ‘international dividend' can be up to 20% or more of the total paid risk premium.
Olivier Van den Eynde, managing director at Benevista, commented: "Although the benefits of pooling are known to most multinationals, it seems rather difficult to pass this message within the organization. One of the reasons is that the name of the local insurer often doesn't correspond with the name of the international network, for example, AG Insurance is the Belgian partner of Insurope and IGP). The user of the search application needs to define three simple variables: country, international network and type of employee benefit. The result of this search will show all relevant information of the local insurance companies that correspond to the selected criteria."
"Considering most multinationals have pooling arrangements with more than one network, our tool will of great interest to these companies. We therefore hope that more subsidiaries of multinationals will get in direct contact with the local partners of the international networks," Van den Eynde added.