Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Another Despicable Insurance Sales Idea

Over 6 years ago, we noted Prudential plc's horrific sales promotion encouraging its agents to celebrate terrorism. Apparently, the folks at Munich Re aren't longtime IB readers, else they would have known that this was a very bad idea:

"One of the biggest insurance companies in the world held a party for salesmen where they were rewarded with the services of prostitutes."

Oy.

Reinsurers are essentially wholesalers of insurance, and are generally "background noise" in the press. Individuals don't buy coverage from them (well, not directly), and many (most?) folks have never heard of these vendors.

So perhaps the rocket surgeons in charge of Munich Re believed that this would fly under the radar, with no one the wiser.

And to an extent, they were quite right:

"[T]he party had taken place to reward salesmen in 2007 ... There were about 100 guests and 20 prostitutes were hired."

What is it about insurers and ratios?

The good news is that the folks responsible for this little adventure are now gone and the company has since "introduced a new code of conduct."

Because the old one encouraged this behavior?

It bears repeating: Oy.

[Hat Tip: Bob Vineyard]
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