theceomagazine.com | 85LOCKTON COMPANIES, THE PARENT COMPANY OF
LOCKTON PHILIPPINES INSURANCE & REINSURANCE
BROKERS, INC., IS THE LARGEST PRIVATELY OWNED
INSURANCE BROKERAGE FIRM IN THE WORLD.“One of the hardest hit was a client
of ours, a fertiliser company,” Vic explains.
“They are responsible for providing 64 per
cent of the fertiliser needs of the country,
but their plant was totally ravaged. You can
imagine the impact it would have had on
the country’s agriculture if they were not
able to rehabilitate soon.”
Vic adds that this was also the single
biggest property insurance claim that was
ever filed in the Philippines. “The challenge
for us was to get them back on their feet,
so they could start producing fertilisers for
the country,” he continues. “It all depended
on how soon they would be reimbursed by
their insurance. About 95 per cent of it was
reinsured with Lloyd’s. So we met with
Lloyd’s to plead with them to pay this claim
fast because the country’s economy depended
on how soon our client could operate again.”
Although the case isn’t 100 per cent
settled as yet, Vic is glad the company is back
on its feet. “They are not yet producing as
much as they should, but at least they’re
operating again,” he says. “So if there is
a single moment where I think I did
something really good for my client and,
by extension, for the country, that was it.
And I feel very proud of what my team
and I were able to do there.”
Vic adds that, every year, the company
has an outing and holds a lunch each month
to celebrate the respective staff birthdays.A LIFETIME OF INSURANCE
Vic has been in the insurance industry his
whole career. He began working in a small
company while he was at university in the
late 1960s, before moving on to multinational
firms. “I was hired by Citicorp in 1987,
to run its insurance broking operation in
the Philippines,” Vic explains. “And that
continued until 1991. Then Citicorp decided
to give up its insurance broking operations
and just focus on its core business, which is
mainly banking.” »Interview | INNOVATE