Willis’ Martin Sullivan: "Insurance is the Underwriter of Progress”

The insurance industry has a fundamental role to play both in helping the developed nations overcome their challenges, and in providing a foundation for the developing world’s growth, according to a senior Willis executive at an insurance market event held today at the London headquarters of Willis Group Holdings plc (NYSE: WSH), the global insurance broker.

Speaking to a packed audience at the Insurance Insider’s Pre-Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous Executive Briefing, Martin Sullivan, Deputy Chairman of Willis Group and CEO of Willis Global Solutions said: "The insurance industry is fundamental to creating prosperity out of poverty, transforming simple prosperity into wealth, and protecting that hard-earned wealth from chance and lawlessness.”

In his speech entitled "Insurance: The Underwriter of Progress”, Sullivan outlined the opportunities for the insurance industry that are being generated from challenges facing the developed world and the booming global middle class in developing markets.

Sullivan emphasised the integral importance of traditional underwriting in this rapidly changing environment and told delegates that "Underwriters, especially in times of emerging uncertainty, are the heart and soul of any risk-taking venture.”

In an age of austerity, Sullivan said that as governments scale back, they will have to partner with the insurance industry on finding ways to spread the costs for injury compensation and rebuilding. "It is in the interest of individual insurers to participate at the local and national levels to find solutions for perils that have previously been ‘insured’ by taxpayers,” he said. Sullivan added that products will need to be found for previously "uninsurable” risks like global warming, public health, food supply and water scarcity.

Click here to read Martin Sullivan’s speech.

About Willis

Willis Group Holdings plc is a leading global insurance broker. Through its subsidiaries, Willis develops and delivers professional insurance, reinsurance, risk management, financial and human resource consulting and actuarial services to corporations, public entities and institutions around the world. Willis has more than 400 offices in nearly 120 countries, with a global team of approximately 17,000 employees serving clients in virtually every part of the world. Additional information on Willis may be found at www.willis.com.