5 minutes with: Simon Weaver

1. How has this role come about? Was there a particular need not being met in the region?

My role was created as part of a strategic business drive to position CRB as a truly global business, with global lines of business and global standards of sales and client service. We believe this new role will help to further strengthen our CRB capabilities and client offering throughout Asia Pacific.

2. What are your plans for engaging with APAC risk managers?

At Willis Towers Watson, we want to create dialogue around the rapidly changing risk environment in Asia Pacific. In addition to traditional insurance, topics such as cyber, climate change, and the future of work mean businesses need guidance on how to manage these risks. Our response is backed by industry expertise with data and analytics delivered by proprietary models such as our cyber quantified and global perils diagnostic tools. We are adding to these tools in 2018 following positive response from our clients.

3. What are some of the challenges unique to this region?

The Asia Pacific region covers a diverse geography containing some of the most mature and established insurance markets, while other markets are rapidly growing or emerging. The regulatory environment is also developing quickly. From an economic perspective, many businesses are looking to expand their activities beyond their own geographic borders and several countries are looking to invest significantly in developing their infrastructure.

For a broking and risk consultant with a presence across the entire region, this creates many opportunities for Willis Towers Watson to help businesses manage their risk exposures. Advice and solutions delivered in one part of the region will be translatable to others and having a combined region means Willis Towers Watson can mobilise and bring teams with relevant expertise to deliver innovative and tailored solutions.

For example, our large clients are seeing real value in us bringing our engineering and analytics teams into conversations at the outset, to drive risk strategy rather than rely on “traditional” broking tactics of seeking the lowest price, whether or not the product is relevant to that client’s needs. 

4. What are the plans for further expansion and investment in the region?

We have a highly talented team that works with a broad range of clients, however, we expect to further develop our specialty and industry capabilities that align to Willis Towers Watson’s global business strategy.