Meet our experts: Rieke Bundt // Reinsurance Employee Benefits

In our series "Meet our experts" we regularly introduce you to our experts from all areas of the Delvag Group. Today: Rieke Bundt from the reinsurance department.

Rieke, welcome to Delvag. Could you please take us with you on your new area of responsibility? What are your specific tasks?
Thank you very much! I only joined the team few months ago on 1 July and officially I am still in a probation period (laughs).

To answer your question, there are two main components that await me in my new job. One is the underwriting of employee benefits contracts (renewals, new contracts). This is where I can best contribute my wealth of experience from more than 14 years working for the Generali Employee Benefits Network. 

In addition to that and this is where I enter new territories, I am responsible for specific reinsurance protections of the risks Delvag placed. For both aspects I am in direct contact with reinsurers, our network partners, brokers and clients. 

What are the (major) differences compared to your previous role at Generali Employee Benefits (GEB)?
At my former employer Generali Employee Benefits Network, I was responsible for multinational companies headquartered in the German speaking countries (D-A-CH region) who implemented a global program like Pool or Captive to have a global approach to bundle their worldwide employer-financed Employee Benefits coverages. In this role, I was the face to the customer being a network service provider, among others also for Delvag and Albatros. 

Deutsche Lufthansa AG had such an Employee Benefits Pool in place for many years, which amongst others was also placed with my former employer. Initially this was managed by Albatros as a broker, then Delvag gradually got involved as a captive in recent years. I already got to know some of my new colleagues at that time - after all, they were my clients.

Now I have changed the perspective and moved to the client side instead. This is something very appealing to me personally after more than 14 years. Now I am very close to the processes. A completely new view compared to the one in the GEB Regional Office.   

What are your expectations in connection with your new role? Have you set yourself personal goals?
Certainly, I do have expectations to my new function. But in principle, the goals are self-evident. During my recruitment process we talked about Delvag's strategic goals, and I would like to support to achieve these; as a reinsurance department as well as company itself. The onboarding of international Employee Benefits schemes into the captive started only last year and thus is still in the early stages. Therefore, my main goal is to further expand and deepen this area. And this is where I can contribute best with my expertise.

By taking over new processes myself, I am much more directly involved than in my previous job. Underwriting the risks and using further reinsurance protections for Delvag across all lines of business is very interesting to me and supports my personal development. 

Furthermore there are some important aspects in view of the EB business, which I am eager to see how it is implemented in practice: How do we onboard new schemes into the captive, having such a large parent company? In what timeframe growth can be reached? How do we best approach the local entities that are not yet included in the Captive program? How do we get full support from Lufthansa HR and get the added value of the Captive across? I am really curious about what awaits me.

What current trends can be observed or anticipated in the area of international Employee Benefits for the future?
Good question! I am partly entering new territories here, but of course I know the market from my previous position. Even before the pandemic, an increased interest in financing models such as a captive could be observed. The outbreak of the pandemic pushed this trend further and, evoked one more key topic of well-being initiatives. With the focus on mental health and work-life balance. 

Another “hot topic” is the inflation   and also the war in Ukraine. Due to sanctions, retrocession from Russia is no longer possible. In view of Ukrainian covers in place, questions around warranty of claim payments, medical insurance for family members being outside the Ukraine are raised. 

You are with Delvag since roughly five months now – how would you summarise your experience so far?
Looking back my past weeks and months it all started with a very warm welcome of the team and I do feel very well. The collaboration with my colleagues is great and my start at Delvag was made very easy to me. To highlight that I was given the opportunity to attend the company's summer event even before my first day at work. This was a terrific opportunity to get to know many of my new colleagues offsite. My onboarding week was then also planned very well and even the IT was up and running from the very first day. I did not expect that - fantastic!

When I decided to make this move, I needed to consider my family situation that only allows me to work somehow close to Frankfurt or alternatively with a high proportion of remote work. Therefore I continue to work for Delvag from my home office close to Frankfurt, but of course I am also in Cologne headquarter on regular basis for appointments and to meet in person. The part-time option (currently 60%) was also very important to me and I am very happy that Delvag as an employer is very flexible and offers attractive working-time models for its employees.

Since I was immediately integrated by all my colleagues, the new job doesn't necessarily feel like a new start to me. My previous touchpoints with the company certainly simplified my start, but I have the feeling that other new joiners are welcomed in the same warm manner.

Thanks for the chat.

About Rieke Bundt

Rieke Bundt was born in Schleswig-Holstein but lives close to Frankfurt with her husband and two children since many years. After being as an au-pair in Italy, she completed her cooperative education with a degree at Allianz Leben in Leipzig and Dresden. Her professional career then started in the HR department of Ernst & Young, where she managed employer-financed insurance contracts. Until today she maintains her professional focus on Employee Benefits   in her career, out of which she was more than fourteen years with Generali Employee Benefits Network. Rieke Bundt joint Delvag as Senior Underwriter on 01.07.2022.

From Andreas Brodesser
Corporate Communications Delvag
kommunikation@delvag.de