The ongoing challenges of running an international insurance business

To understand how Aventum managed to thrive in spite of the pandemic, Insurance Business global editor Paul Lucas spoke with Bearman in a recent IB TV interview.

Watch now: How one of insurance’s top 100 set the wheels in motion at 18

For Bearman, running a business from afar will never be a walk in the park – whether or not there is a pandemic.

“Running any business remotely and from afar is difficult, right?” he said. “I’ve always been a believer [in] leading from the front; being in the office and with your people. It’s much more difficult when you’ve got fifteen locations worldwide. But we try – where possible – to have daily and weekly contact with every office [and] all the stakeholders.”

Bearman pointed out that for all the havoc raised by the pandemic, it also brought some benefits to the industry – particularly in terms of promoting agile work and virtual meetings. Virtual meetings using platforms such as Zoom were frowned upon just five years ago, the leader said, but the times have quickly changed thanks to COVID-19.

“It’s almost the standard way of doing business today,” he commented.

Now that some travel restrictions have been lifted, Bearman has taken the opportunity to travel where he can – after all, he is still a ‘leading from the front’ sort of leader. He tells Insurance Business that he has already been to the US and Europe to visit Aventum’s regional operations. And more recently, he went to Bahrain to check on the aviation practice.

“We’ve got very agile framework in terms of the way we operate . . . [it’s] effectively a hub and spoke, so our worldwide offices plug into our central operations here in London. Everything is done via . . . a very agile and remote data collection and system,” said Bearman. “So it’s been a lot easier than you might imagine. But you’ve still got your challenges . . . of people, different regulatory environments, obviously different nuances to local markets.”

The CEO also cites the strength of Aventum’s local teams as the secret to its success.

“Our strategy from an underwriting perspective is always to go where the work is. We identify the best teams of underwriters and we effectively build an office around them.”

Watch now: How one of insurance’s top 100 set the wheels in motion at 18