08 May 2018
Asia CEO explains his plans for the firm in exclusive interview
Nic Nicandrou came to Hong Kong
as Prudential Corporation Asia’s
(PCA) chief executive in July last
year, having previously held the position
of Group Chief Financial Officer at
UK-based parent company, Prudential,
since 2009. He is also the second-longest
serving corporate member on the insurance
giant’s board.
In an exclusive interview with Asia
Asset Management, Mr. Nicandrou talks
about his passion for the insurance
industry, his vision for the firm in Asia
and some of the initiatives he is currently
overseeing in the region.
Excerpts from the interview follow:
On choosing insurance…
I went to Oxford University in the 80s
and studied engineering – control engineering,
specifically. The amazing thing
is that 30% of those that qualified as
engineers in 1987 went into accounting,
and I was one of them. On graduating,
I joined PricewaterhouseCoopers and
that’s when I discovered insurance. What
I liked about it was its complexity and its
social purpose.
I discovered that the insurance industry
exists to protect people’s lives and
protect the things that are most precious
to them, whether it’s their health, their
life or their savings. What insurance is
about at its heart is a promise: a promise
that we are going to be around 20, 30,
40 years from now to pay you back what
you’ve put in, and ideally more. And to
stand behind you if there’s a loss of life
in the family or to help you plan ahead
so the people you care most can have a
secure future.
I fell in love with this concept
and ended up spending 11 years at
PricewaterhouseCoopers specialising
in insurance. At this point, rather than
checking people’s homework and consulting,
I wanted to do it myself. So, I left
and joined Norwich Union in 1997, which
subsequently merged with Commercial
Union and General Accident to become
Aviva, and stayed at the company for 11
years.
When I joined Prudential in 2009, I discovered
that it was actually a much better
company than I had thought it was
as a competitor. At that time, Asia was
a fraction of what it is today in terms of
business. I thought Prudential was predominantly
a UK company but I soon
realised that it had a fantastic presence
in Asia.
On heading up Asia…
As I was previously involved in mapping
the group’s strategy, I always had
a say in how we evolved and developed
our businesses in Asia. I worked with
my predecessors here in Hong Kong to ensure that we were growing in the right places.
In the health space, one of the things we are putting a lot more emphasis on is thinking about the services that we provide. Health is about protection, prevention and then delivering our promise with payment in times of need. Historically we’ve always focused on the protection aspect. I wanted us to expand into the other two areas.
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