Q&A with Esme Gould, Head of UK Captives
10/23/2023
How are you finding your role as Head of Captives?
I'm six months in and so far, it's great. It’s a brilliant team of people which always makes things easier. There's seven of us in total, and I've really enjoyed getting to know them, some of whom I knew from previous roles. I've also enjoyed learning more about other areas, it's been interesting seeing what the other underwriting lines of business do day to day.
Captives are something I've always been aware of during my time in insurance, having worked with many customers with captives. One thing that appealed to me about the role was doing something that involved underwriting, but across the whole Zurich UK offering. I enjoy the challenge of complex solutions, working with major multinational customers, and looking at ways we can help better manage their risk. We get to see such a variety of customers; from all industries and across many lines of business.
What is the main focus of your role?
Working with our strategic and largest customers, as well as smaller ones, to help them with their risk management. We want to make sure they have a great experience of working with Zurich and use our knowledge and infrastructure to optimise their risk management.
What are the benefits of a captive for customers?
In some cases, a captive has the option to offer broader coverage to the parent company than the market standard. Or to incubate risks which there may not be appetite for in the market. It can support a centralised risk management structure and give more accountability to the business.
What are the biggest challenges you're seeing in the market currently?
ESG is not necessarily a challenge, but a key focus for any company. This impacts the captive side of things, because they want to ensure they're supporting their insured with insights and helping them manage their legislative requirements around that. Managing their risk in an accountable, sustainable way.
On the topic of legislation, we are seeing more jurisdictions showing interest in facilitating captive setups, there was a roundtable in the UK recently for example. Having more domiciles available would naturally lead to some changes in the market.
What can we expect from the Captives team for the rest of 2023?
Working closely with Emma Sansom, Group Head of Captives, is key to building our propositions as a company. We have a great international programme proposition and we’ll be looking at how we can continue to strengthen our leadership position in this area.
Into 2024 I'm focusing on innovation, enhancing our proposition and what we offer our customers. Also from an internal perspective, ensuring everything is as streamlined and working as efficiently as possible for the benefit of our customers and their captives.
What is the best piece of career advice you have been given?
I've been fortunate to have very good managers throughout my time in Zurich. For almost 9 years I had the same one who was very supportive of my career and personal development, and he also taught me the value of doing something you’re passionate about. Hard work is a lot easier when you’re doing something you love. Plus, working with good people, as we do at Zurich, makes the bad days better, and the good days great.
In short, I’d say do something you enjoy doing, not something you think you should do, it makes it easier to give 100% every day.
You can hear from Esme at AIRMIC's Island of Ireland Forum on 26th October.
