2023-11-04 07:07:00
“Baloise has been present in Belgium since the 1930s through its predecessors Noordstar en Boerhaave. Its decision-making center is in Belgium. It has no state shareholder, unlike most of the major players in the sector in the country” . In fact, Ethias is controlled by the Flemish and Walloon Regions and the federal holding company SFPI. Belfius, which is an insurer in addition to being a bank, is 100% in the hands of the Belgian State and Ageas (the parent company of the insurer AG) has SFPI as a shareholder.
Unique opportunity in Africa
Will Christophe Hamal take a different approach to political decisions? He moves forward cautiously even if we sense that he would like the major debates that concern the sector to be more nourished and more visionary. There is no shortage of topics, whether it is the very uncertain financing of pensions, the difficult insurability of natural disasters or the increasingly burdensome taxation. “I have a six-year-old daughter and I would like us to prepare the future of this country,” says the man who has the reputation of having an “excellent strategic capacity.”
Like many business owners, Christophe Hamal cut his teeth in the consultancy profession. This KUL sales engineer lands his first job at Roland Berger. After four years, a unique opportunity presents itself in Africa. He leaves for Gabon where he will work for the agro-industrial company Siat controlled by the Belgian Vandebeeck family. Siat won the tender for the privatization of the country’s main plantation company. He had heard of the job because he was at the time the “fiancé” of the Vandebeeck girl. He leaves aside his idea of doing an MBA. At 25, he will be the financial director of a company which employs 3,000 people and which was the largest employer in the country, a former French colony. “Africa, you either love it or you hate it.” I loved it.” All negotiations took place in French, in this country which still has 80% virgin forests. “It was an excellent school in terms of management. I had a position as a senior manager much younger than if I had stayed in Europe.”
Illness, accident, burn-out… What insurance to protect the self-employed in the event of cessation of activity?
“The best school in the world”
Once his restructuring work was completed, he returned to his idea of enrolling in the Insead MBA, of which he was full of praise. “It’s the best school in the world. It has the advantage of being hyper-international and having a high-level academic staff.”
It is 2008. He borrows 48,000 euros to finance his registration, an amount to which must be added the very high cost of living. But he knows that with such training he will quickly be offered a well-paid job. He was approached by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The latter pays him a commitment bonus with which he will repay his loan. “Like everyone else, it took me three years to repay my loan.”
He spent eight years at BCG where he handled several major financial files such as the merger between Fortis and BNP Paribas. “It was a huge merger of immense complexity, including entities all over the world.”
A few years later, he tackled the merger between the Belgian private banks Degroof and Petercam which, he comments, “had its reason for being.” Even though we know that the result of the merger did not meet expectations. “Maybe because the cultures were a little too different.”
According to him, a merger brings added value “if we manage to create a new story. This is what worked very well at BNP Paribas and Fortis. The French designed the project in a very intelligent way.”
After his long stint at BCG, he joined fintech By Way in 2017. He plunged into a world where “there is a lot of technology.” Nothing to do with insurance, which is clearly lagging behind in this area. He knows it. As CEO of Baloise, he intends to pay particular attention to this. This is not the only challenge for this fusion expert. It will also have to improve the integration of the companies purchased (Fidea and the non-life branch of Athora) in recent years which have enabled Baloise to climb into the top 5 of the insurance sector in Belgium.
“In the event of another major natural disaster in Belgium, it will be chaos for policyholders”
“It’s important to be in the top 5”
The Baloise insurance group has a turnover of 2.1 billion in Belgium and is in fourth place in non-life, which it acquired following the acquisition of Fidea and the non-life branch of Athora (formerly Generali Belgium). “It is important to be in the top 5. This is a game-changer for the brokerage network,” explains Christophe Hamal.
The Belgian company employs 1,570 people, 75% of whom are in Antwerp. It has “active collaboration” with around 2,000 brokers. “Brokers generally work with around three insurance companies. The advantage for the insurance sector is that brokers know their clients,” explains the CEO. According to him, the prices of the products sold are “fairly standardized.” What makes the difference for a broker is the “cooperation, integration, interaction and technicality” offered by each company.
In a few dates
October 4, 1978: birth in Wilrijk.
1996-2001: commercial engineering studies at KU Leuven.
2008: MBA at Insead.
2009-2017: advisor at BCG (Boston Consulting Group).
May 2022-: CEO of the Baloise insurance company in Belgium.
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