www.thestar.com.my - FOR someone who had never aspired to work in insurance, Hans De Cuyper has come a long way.
The 42-year-old CEO of Etiqa Insurance and Takaful - Malayan Banking Bhd's (Maybank) insurance arm - grew up in Belgium where he read mathematics and actuarial science in university.
“If you come out as a mathematician, the world is not very exciting,” he tells StarBizWeek in an interview. “And once you do actuarial science, you have more or less chosen your profession because 90% of actuarists go into insurance.” (source)
Cuyper's path into the industry was by default rather than design. “My results in secondary school were quite diverse,” he reminisces. “My scores were average. But I was always by far the best in math, and was too lazy to focus on the rest.
“When I finished school my teacher said math was what I should do. I've never been one of those students who studied everyday from morning till night, so he said if I wanted to get a university degree relatively easy, I should do math. At that age, you make decisions without being fully conscious of how it will impact your future.”
Cuyper reveals that he had wanted to be an architect but did not possess the financial means. “Math was easy. You either buy the books, or copy it from your peers. The investment is smaller compared with architecture, where you need to buy the materials,” he says pragmatically.
Interestingly, Cuyper also fancied teaching as he liked the holidays teachers get from school, but that never came to pass.
Becoming a Maybanker'
Fresh out of school and with master's degrees in mathematical and actuarial science under his belt, Cuyper joined the ranks of ING Insurance Belgium as a trainee actuary.
He spent 13 years working his way up before he felt his “market of 10 million Belgians became a bit small”. In 2004, he took the job as regional risk and finance manager with the then Fortis group (now Ageas) in Hong Kong, marking his foray into Asia.
As luck would have it, Cuyper was sent to Malaysia a year later as a representative of Fortis to handle a major acquisition that would lead to the creation of Etiqa.
The company is the result of a merger of five entities, namely Maybank, Fortis International NV, Mayban Fortis Holdings, Malaysia National Insurance Bhd, and its subsidiary Takaful Nasional Sdn Bhd. Etiqa is 69%-owned by Etiqa International Holdings Sdn Bhd and 31% by Belgium and Netherlands-based Ageas Insurance International.
Working on the merger taught Cuyper the ins and outs of the insurance and takaful business in Malaysia, and he saw “tremendous potential” in Etiqa.
He duly returned to Hong Kong after the merger was completed, but when the opening for chief financial officer (CFO) at Etiqa presented itself in 2007, he grabbed it. After four years as CFO, Cuyper was approached by Maybank president and CEO Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar for the top job and to come on board the bank's executive committee.
Under Cuyper, Etiqa has set itself some ambitious targets. It wants to grow gross written premium (GWP) by 75% by 2015 to RM7.5bil from RM4.3bil currently, effectively making it the number one player in the country. Etiqa is presently second in terms of GWP.
The company also aims to expand assets under management by 30% to RM30bil in 2015 from RM23bil now.
More broadly, Cuyper shares that he has a vision to change the way things are done in the industry. This stems from a survey conducted by Etiqa some years ago, which found that the general populace had a grim perception of insurance.
Among other things, he says, Malaysians think insurance operators love to collect premiums, but hate to pay claims, do not pick up the phone, and are late in issuing policies.
This, Cuyper promises, is something Etiqa has addressed and will continue to improve on through its rebranding and internal cultural change programs to “humanise financial services”.
“For example, we've killed all (automated) voice response because our study told us people don't like answering to a machine. And our registration system calls you by your name - you are not a number,” Cuyper claims.
Social role
Cuyper contends that insurance has a social role. “I think insurance grew from a basic human need,” he says. “It dates back to the time when Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain and discovered the Americas. They had to secure his ships. It is basic human interest to protect what you have and look at how you can build a better life.”
Nonetheless, he cautions that there could be dark days ahead for the insurance business in view of the twin debt crises in the United States and euro zone.
“This is one of the most challenging times for insurance companies in terms of investments because they normally benefit from high-yield environments, a steep yield curve and bullish equity markets.
“In my career, I've only seen one of those elements come under stress at any one time. What we're seeing now is all three elements coming under pressure at the same time,” he explains.
Cuyper notes that the current environment of low or flat returns would mean insurance companies who made high guarantees years ago will be stuck with assets that have to be reinvested at lower yields.
“If this lasts long, we will definitely see an adverse impact on the industry. The first thing we would have to do is reprice our products, make them either more expensive or less attractive, and secondly, we would have to rebalance our portfolio,” he points out.
But he believes in Asia's potential to weather the storm. Says Cuyper: “I am not so worried because the market here is still growing nicely. Of course, we keep our portfolios on high alert and look out for investment opportunities.
“The Economic Transformation Programme needs funding, and longer-term bond issuances are what we need as an insurance company.”
“But life is not as easy as it was before,” he admits, adding: “I like it more now on this side of the world than on the other side.”
It is worth noting that Cuyper's previous employer, Fortis, was a casualty of the last great financial crisis of 2008. It had run into insolvency issues after it agreed to purchase several major European banks and was forced to take a bailout of £11.2bil from Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg.
Fortis also had to split its banking operations from its insurance business, and the remaining insurance assets were renamed Ageas.
A key thing that has changed in the financial world since 2008, Cuyper believes, is the emphasis on risk. “We have seen the level of risk awareness increase significantly across regulators, shareholders, policyholders,” he says.
“Etiqa has responded to this in our own executive committee by appointing a dedicated chief risk officer, so we have someone in the company at the highest level doing nothing else but tracking our risk exposures.”
All-rounder
Outside of work, Cuyper is a travel-junkie and photography enthusiast. Most of his spare time is spent travelling, and there are only a few South-East Asian countries he has not set foot in.
“I'm not a beach-sitter,” he proclaims. “When I travel, I lay off my suit, wear shorts and maybe backpack. I love going high up in the mountains and deep under the water.”
Cuyper picked up diving in Malaysia, in addition to climbing Mount Kinabalu with the Etiqa sports club, he also has a huge admiration for the Himalayas, which he has visited four times, starting with a trip to the base camp at Everest.
“The thing I like about the Himalayas is the impression of nature. I remember walking to the Everest base camp one day. We left at 8am and saw smoke coming from a chimney in the distance,” he recalls.
“Our guide said that's where we sleep tonight'. Then I thought, oh this will be an easy day right, just a few hours and we're there. It turns out we reached just before dark. The spaciousness is so wide and so impressive that you lose all perception of distance.”
Hidden jewel
“I always say Malaysia is a hidden jewel in Asia,” Cuyper enthuses. “The quality of life here is good, and the cost of living is reasonable compared with Hong Kong, Singapore or Tokyo.
“It's amazing too how the different races live together. I come from Europe where we have so many discussions about foreign workers and migrants.”
Still, Cuyper is perplexed by some inefficiencies in the system. For one, he says Malaysia is the first country in Asia where he consciously avoids taking the taxi. “Either they rip me off, or they don't take me,” he laments.
“I hope Malaysia can devote more into taking care of what it has. Malaysia has beach resorts that are way more beautiful than in Thailand or Indonesia, but that little extra service aspect is not always there. If I had an unlimited amount of money to make a change, it would be that.”
Asked if there were any cultural peculiarities he had come across in the Malaysian workplace, Cuyper pauses, then says: “My management style is that I put an idea on the table, then the team fleshes it out and the idea grows.
“After 30 minutes, you can make a decision on an idea that is a lot clearer. I've learnt that it is not like that in the Asian culture. You put an idea on the table and all of a sudden people start running around to implement it, because you're the boss and what you say goes.
“But just because I said something, that doesn't make it true. If you do not agree and have a fair argument, put it on the table. It was difficult in the beginning because I had to backtrack. They start implementing and you see there are loopholes.”
Cuyper reveals that, at heart, he is a simple man. “I've never been type to say I want to be CEO or CFO of a big firm. If it's offered to me, I'll go for it. If not, I won't make myself unhappy. So many people have that ideal picture of their career but don't live to make it,” he quips.
“It's important to keep your balance,” he says. “Being balanced is better for the company than being a first-rate but stressed CEO.”
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