By Alfean Hardy
Insurance, at first glance, cannot be called living a life less ordinary. Yet, when young half-German, half-Greek Cornelius Alexander Ioannis Ankel decided to work abroad, insurance was what he took on in order to see the world.
And see the world the has.
Allianz Malaysia Bhd's chief executive officer Alexander Ankel has packed his bags for destinations as varied as Germany, Switzerland, Singapore, Japan and Malaysia.
He joined the Allianz SE Group in 1997 where he has had stints as Allianz Insurance Management Asia Pacific Pte Ltd senior business development manager, Allianz Fire and Marine Insurance Japan Ltd and Allianz General Insurance Malaysia Bhd chief executive officer.
Speaking to The Malaysian Reserve in Kuala Lumpur recently, Ankel said his decision to enter the insurance sector as a young man, was not because he knew what he wanted to do but rather for the sake of wanting to work in a different culture with people from a diverse cultural background.
"At that time, I didn't really know what profession I wanted to have. I only knew that I would like the opportunity to work overseas," he said. Eventually, an uncle persuaded him to consider insurance brokerage and the rest, as they say, is history. Natural Relationship Ankel said his experience as an insurance broker here, handling key German accounts in the region like Robert Bosch in Penang, eventually led to him joining Allianz.
"I knew all the blue chips and, one of my key capacity and risk providers was Allianz. So there was a natural relationship between Allianz as an insurer for German accounts and us doing brokering on the other side.
"The other reason was that Allianz is a great employer, (they) gave me plenty of development opportunities and helped me realise my professional ambitions. "And, amidst all the economic uncertainty, the group is doing considerably well and has proven to be a reliable partner for its clients and employees," he added.
Ankel joined Allianz here in Asia almost 11 years ago and, through his job, managed to realise his dream of working in different environments. He said the travelling he has done thanks to Allianz has allowed him to increase his knowledge about the region. "It has given me the opportunity to meet a lot of interesting people and create lasting friendships," he said.
He added that, professionally, the events that have rocked the region, like the Thai baht crisis, the tsunami and the SARS epidemic, have helped create a bond amongst professionals like himself who live and work in Asia. Turnaround In March 2004, whilst working in Japan, Ankel received the call to be the chief executive officer of Allianz General Insurance Malaysia.
"Those days, it was more of a turnaround scenario. It was not bleeding. It was in a situation where the company was falling behind its competitors and peers. It was an overhaul in all main functions," he said.
Since then, the company has posted double digit growth, varied its distribution network, rehauled its Information Technology systems and diversified its distribution portfolio, amongst others.
"Everything has gone according to plan. We've positioned ourselves in a strong position in the industry, positioned our brand very strongly, satisfied our shareholders, re-listed the company and created a new holding structure and so on," he added.
Ankel said the overhaul, from A-to-Z, took about four years and involved strategies like deliberately shrinking the general insurance business' gross premiums as well as focussing on retaining, retraining and recruting the company's human resource assets. He said, at management level, many lessons were also learnt.
"From today's perspective, we as a management team have all learnt that you can't implement change if staff expect the change to be executed only at the top.
"You have to break that momentum of ownership and responsibility down to the very low levels of the organisation and make sure everyone supports the organisation. It truly makes a difference," he added.
(This story appeared in The Malaysian Reserve on Mar 18, 2009. The Malaysian Reserve is a daily business/finance newspaper published out of Kuala Lumpur, with a sectoral page on insurance & takaful called UNDERWRITER, appearing on alternate Wednesdays, edited by Habhajan Singh.)
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