STEPHEN CRANSTON: Investec’s Goemans starts life on a clean slate with loyal clients
As head of a disruptive insurer, he recognises brand trust and innovation are both necessary
As the first head of Investec Life, Michael Goemans was in a position to work off a clean sheet of paper. He is also privileged to have a pool of loyal clients who will follow the zebra, right or wrong. And in many cases Investec can’t get it more wrong than the poor service and poor value for money offered by most life offices. So much as we tend to see Investec as a cuddly and familiar brand these days, in life insurance it is a disrupter. After years at Old Mutual as head of finance at its excellent mass market business, Goemans has an ambivalent view of technology. He says it can be a threat to insurance firms or enable greater customer choice. The insurance sector has not been spared the digital disruption affecting the rest of the economy, and "insurtech" is now a buzzword in the industry. There has been talk of "burning platforms" and the need for industry incumbents to embrace comprehensive digital change before they are burnt alive by new technologies. But Goemans says the ...
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