| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 11/09/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 51 |
| Copyright: Other |
This week: Colin Waters,Travel Insurance Management (London) and The Travel Insurance Club
Age: 62
With several years’ experience in the general insurance field I took a manager’s job at Robert Barrow (Life and Pensions). I left after three years in November 1972, as I felt underpaid.
However, the firm did not have a successor for me, so for three months I went back to the company for half an hour every day and instructed the staff on how to sort out any difficult problems.
It was at this time that I had been taken on by the Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company as the ‘administrator’.
Among other changes, I began my new job by revamping the administration of the company, which saw me move to assistant to the vice-president running the UK operation, and then to the position of travel manager and underwriter.
It was never my long-term aim to specialise in travel insurance, it just happened to be a natural progression – dealing with underwriting in a similar way that Iwould have dealt with a navigational problem during my naval career.
In 1977 I decided to invite all of our competitors to lunch to discuss mutual problems – brokers and agency agreements etc. All agreed that the meeting should be held every quarter and it continues today although, in the early ’90s it changed its name to The Travel Underwriters Group (TUG).
In the late ’70s an old friend working for Tyser and Co, the oldest independent firm of Lloyd’s brokers, persuaded Tyser to back the setting up of Travel Insurance Management (London), to underwrite travel insurance on behalf of a pool of syndicates at Lloyds.
In turn, he persuaded me to join as joint managing director and principle underwriter and in 1993 I set up the Travel Insurance Club – which was established to sell the hugely popular Backpackers travel insurance policy.
My naval officer training at Britannia Royal Naval College and subsequent sea time as a navigator has been a great influence on my working life. If I feel uneasy about a risk, then I steer the safe course but if I feel confident, then I often underwrite risks that other insurers decline.
When I first underwrote Backpackers, many friends and competitors thought we would lose money at the low rates. Now they have followed with their own versions!
However, I have also had experience of what can go wrong – in 1974 one of the first ever master policies that I wrote, started the exclusions list with ‘(1) This policy does not cover claims’. Neither our own claims department nor the tour operator ever noticed!
As the direct sales arm of Travel Insurance Management (London) Ltd, the Travel Insurance Club only represented 2.5% of Travel Insurance Management’s income in 1994 – by last year that figure had risen to over 90%.
The Travel Insurance Club now offers USA, Canada and Worldwide Travel Insurance and
European Travel Insurance for both holiday and business trip.
Out of the office my wife and I are very active people and could not imagine spending our holiday time sitting by a pool in a hot resort.
If there were nothing active to do, I would get bored after the first day and start dreaming about what I could be doing with all the wasted time! Like many people, I am very busy during office hours but unlike many, I find it very difficult to sit with not a lot to do.
We are much more interested in active holidays – I enjoy sailing or golf while my wife enjoys fine art and visiting sites of cultural interest. For example, last year we visited Vancouver for three weeks and didn’t have a day to sit and relax in between visiting the surrounding area and climbing Mount Whistler.
This year we spent one week on a narrowboat on the Kennet and Avon Canal, then moved on to Devon to stay with friends while indulging my passion for competitive sailing by entering the Phantom National Sailing Championships – I came 12th out of 37 competitors.
CURRICULUM VITAE
1961: left the Royal Navy as a lieutenant, executive branch.
1962: BUPA. Went from office manager to second assistant to company secretary.
1965: pensions inspector, west London, Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society.
1966: life assurance consultant with HG Poland (Life and Pensions).
1969: manager of Robert Barrow (Life and Pensions).
1972: worked as travel insurance underwriter for the UK with Mutual of Omaha Insurance, progressing to manager and underwriter for the UK branch of its general insurance firm, the Constitution Insurance Company of Canada, and then to assistant vice-president of the UK general business.
1980: took up current role as managing director of Travel Insurance Management (London).
1993: also appointed MD of the Travel Insurance Club Ltd.
• Don’t be afraid to take risks.
• Hard work and dedication will pay off.
• Knowledge of the product is extremely important.
• Make sure you know what you are doing, take your time and never rush into anything.
• Maintain a friendly atmosphere in the workplace.
• Be thorough and concise – always double check you are right.