MSH International Canada’s President and CEO, Philippe de Dreuzy talks about MSH International’s goals and their FIRST EXPAT+ programme

Mr. de Dreuzy has 25 years worth of experience in global marketing and development and has worked in the insurance industry for over 12 years. Before MSH International Canada, he’s worked for Marsh & McLennan Agency. Mr. de Dreuzy shares these experiences as well as MSH International Canada’s plans and programmes in the full interview below.

Q: Can you please give us a quick description of your role and responsibilities at MSH INTERNATIONAL?

A: I oversee all aspects of the company’s operations in the United States and Canada. Our subsidiary also administers employee benefit plans in the Americas from Mexico to Argentina. MSH INTERNATIONAL is one of the leading worldwide providers of expatriate insurance solutions, and we are truly proud of our successes in developing cost-effective plans to meet the specific needs of our clients. MSH INTERNATIONAL is a subsidiary of Paris-based Mobility Saint-Honoré (MSH), a member of the SIACI Saint Honoré Group. We are one of the biggest and most comprehensive suppliers of expatriate insurance services in the world with more than 330,000 insured participants. MSH’s goal is to provide insurance solutions for mobile employees worldwide, and we are delighted to have over 34 nationalities working in our office. Our staff’s diversity, flexibility, and empathy help us better understand the needs of our international clients.

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Q: What are the immediate goals you are looking to achieve and projects that you are handling?

A: At the moment, innovation is one of our primary goals. At MSH, we are always improving on the ways we serve our clients, using the latest technologies in order to be more informative, rapid, and flexible in our approach. Our business model has grown increasingly complex, but it remains streamlined and effective, from ensuring that our clients are properly insured to processing their claims in an accurate and prompt manner. If medical troubles occur while you are overseas, you want to make sure that your insurance company can provide the medical care that you need, 24h/7.

Q: What key geographical markets are MSH INTERNATIONAL focusing on in the medium term, and why?

A: MSH has two other regional centres in Dubai for the Middle East area and Shanghai for Asia. We are therefore capable of serving clients in more than 130 countries. Since our business is driven by the global economy, our market focus has seen MSH shift to new and exciting regions at an accelerated pace. Growth continues to sputter in the world’s advanced economies, and these regions account for more than 50% of our individual policies sold. Therefore, MSH is especially eager to pursue new and exciting opportunities in the world’s emerging markets and developing economies. According to the World Bank, the world economy is projected to expand at 2.4 percent in 2016, and since China is one of the primary drivers for the expatriate insurance industry, we are proud to say that MSH China is one of our strongest branches, with over 300 employees. Overall, our main objective is to ensure our insurance product fits the needs of our clients, and our growing global reach ensures that we can serve our clients wherever they are.

Q: MSH INTERNATIONAL launched FIRST EXPAT+ earlier this January for individual expats. What makes it attractive, and how is the take up so far?

A: We launched First Expat+ to respond to the evolving needs of expatriates. With our expertise in the international private medical insurance (iPMI) market we are bringing new solutions with innovative features:

-    Modern technology: our clients can request a free instant quotation on our website, fill up a medical questionnaire and enrol on-line.

-    One tailor-made plan: our goal is to provide solutions that are both comprehensive and easy-to-understand. FIRST EXPAT+ is customizable in 3 simple steps to cover every expat situations:

1. You choose your level of coverage for your core medical plan – Quartz, Pearl, Sapphire, Diamond – according to your needs,
2. You add optional benefits – Dental/Vision, Maternity, Life, and Disability
3. You select a level of deductible from $0 up to $5,000.

-    Communication tools for our insured members: the online members’ area (also available through our mobile app) allows our members to submit claims, find a health facility nearby through geolocation, check reimbursement status, etc. We want our members to be able to manage their health at any time, wherever they are.

-    Direct billing: medical expenses over $300 are paid by MSH INTERNATIONAL directly to providers. In fact, 80% of submitted claims are settled without the insured making upfront payment.

The response from the market has been quite fast and positive. Thanks to effective communication, we have been able not only to renew a large number of existing clients with this new product but also to attract new clients and brokers.

We have been following our new clients over the first few months of their enrollment, and we received positive feedback on the benefits included as well as with the customer service we provide. As for our distribution partners, we conducted a few series of webinars to help them better understand the product features, the online quote and enrollment processes and the tracking tool for commission distribution. With FIRST EXPAT+ we believe that new as well as existing partners are very pleased with the program.

Q: Tell us about the broker-friendly features in FIRST EXPAT, and what makes MSH International a partner of choice for brokers?

A: We highly value our relationships with brokers and we believe in long-term business partnerships. We designed FIRST EXPAT+ as a user-friendly product for our end-users, but we also intended for it to be useful for our brokers. Thanks to a unique partner code assigned to each broker, our online quotation and enrolment pages are now customizable for each broker. Through customized links, they can display FIRST EXPAT+ on their website, leading their clients to an online quotation page that includes their brokerage firm’s name.

Moreover, thanks to an advanced tracking system, customers can click on a variety of other products on our website (Life & Disability can be purchased separately), receive an enrolment form already filled up with their information, and have the broker’s code attached to each page and document generated. This way we are able to better keep track of the origin of new customers or potential customers, as well as provide detailed reporting to our brokers on a weekly basis.

The insurance sector, like many others industries, has entered the do-it-yourself era, with proactive customers comparing and buying insurance themselves. Therefore our goals have shifted towards facilitation and generating sales automatically for our brokers. Clients can see the offer on their website, get more information or a free quote, and enroll online with the plan that fits their needs.

If they require any assistance they can call our sales team, who is able to answer any question they may have about the product. For us at MSH, the need for an efficient and a streamlined process is more important than ever before, and we are proud to be at the forefront of the industry, boldly exploring new opportunities and markets to better serve our customers every day.