Bfv choose new president and make other key appointments

At the annual meeting of the Bundesverband firmenverbundener Versicherungsvermittler und gesellschaften e.V., held in Cologne last month, members chose a new president for the first time in seven years. They appointed Hans Jörg Schill, risk manager of Frankfurt airport and managing director of Airport Assekuranz Vermittlungs GmbH, the in-house broker of Fraport, which operates Frankfurt and other airports worldwide. Mr Schill replaces Hans-Otto Geiger of Palatina Vermittlungsgesellschaft, an affiliate of international pump producer KSB, who will be retiring from the company in July. Chosen as vice president was Reiner Siebert, managing director of Albatros Versicherungsdienste GmbH, the in-house broker of German airline Lufthansa, who also heads the company’s insurance and reinsurance operations, Delvag and Delvag Rück. Isabella Pöchmann, managing director, insurance, of Behr Versicherungsdienst GmbH, was elected secretary. Dirk Wegener, managing director, corporate insurance, of Daimler Insurance Services GmbH was chosen as treasurer.hide“This is a very good team,” said Mr Geiger, who has been with the Bfv for some 30 years and has served as president since 2004. The change at the top, he said, marks a transition at the Bfv from long-time members to a new generation of leaders. The association suffered the tragic loss last year of its vice president, Gerhard Nelke, managing director of Deutsche Telekom Assekuranz, who died unexpectedly in October after a short illness. He was 55. Mr Geiger also noted that Harry Daugird, president of ABB Komposit Risk Consultant and the former Bfv treasurer, decided to step down from the board due to his commitment as chairman of the insurance committee of The Federation of German Industries, or BDI. Additionally at the annual meeting, Bfv elected two new members to the board: Frank Köhler, Managing Director of Freudenberg Versicherungsservice GmbH, the in-house broker of Freudenberg, and Swen Grewenig, managing director, corporate insurance, for GBV Versicherungsvermittlung GmbH, the in-house broker of Bilfinger Berger. The new Bfv president, Mr Schill, has been a member of the organisation for some 10 years and has served on its board for the past four. In an interview after the vote, Mr Schill said his goals are in line with that of his predecessor: to represent the interest of Germany’s in-house brokers and create a greater understanding of their role in the corporate insurance market. Germany is unique in its use of in-house brokers—and, in particular, the strength of its in-house broking community. According to the Bfv, its 75 members represent 50% to 60% of industrial premiums in Germany. “If you go to other countries, they view this [community of in-house brokers] as being very strange,” said Mr Schill. As a result, a goal is to further the public’s perception and understanding of in-house brokers, and how they differ from the global insurance brokers, Mr Schill said. Along these lines, the Bfv is working on updating its association position paper, which gives an overview of the in-house broker industry and its benefits. The paper, which is posted on its website and dates back to 2000, will be finalised in the next two or three months. Mr Siebert, the new vice president, noted that the members of Bfv differ from risk managers in that they are focused on the risk transfer side. “I think we need for people to better understand the value that we can bring to the table,” he said. “We also believe that the big broking houses are sort of losing a lot of their know-how and basically they are not working on building it up in the same way to be able to do a similar role. From the outside, that is obviously much more difficult,” he added. Bfv will also be monitoring issues on the technical side of risk transfer, such as the development of inex24, a web-based tender and trading platform for industrial programmes. “We need to make up our minds whether that is going to be helpful or not,” Mr Siebert said. On the retirement of Hans-Otto Geiger, Mr Siebert said: “Hans-Otto has been working tirelessly to promote the Bfv. He has been an excellent networker and has been a very good voice for the industry. He will be staying with us as an honorary member, but it is a loss because he has been driving things forward and really that is something that we will have to make sure we maintain—that momentum—and build on it.” Added Mr Schill: “He [Mr Geiger] did a great job. He was always there for our members…He left us with a very good association.”

Bfv choose new president and make other key appointments

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