Katerina Charalampidou, Ceo Partner of the Company, refers to her course in the insurance market, the expansion of work in the life sector and the venture of wedo.insure. Mrs. Charalampidou is the first insurer in the independent network that became a full member of MDRT in Greece.
interview with Katerina Charalampidou, CEO Partner of wedo.insure:
What industries does wedo.insure operate in and where will you focus in the next five years?
Wedo.insure is a second generation company. I succeeded my mother Argyro in 2003, immediately after completing my studies at the Democritus University of Thrace. For the first 20 years of its operation, it focused mainly on the automotive industry. Inspired by important people who found their way to my career the moment I took over the reins of the business, I made the conscious decision to turn my personal interest to the animal industry. Along the way, my main concern was to staff wedo.insure staff with people specialized in other industries and at the same time to select strategic partners, with the ultimate goal of having specialized activity in all industries without exception.
The love for the life sector, later brought my distinction to the global organization MDRT (Million Dollar Round Table) as the first insurer from the free network that won the title of full member of MDRT in Greece. The highlight of this effort was my participation in the MDRT World Congress in America last summer.
I am very happy to say today, and we focus on this logic in the next five years, that at wedo.insure we undertake the investigation of offers for any branch of the insurance market and we are committed to the most specialized processing of work both in the content of coverage and in more competitive premium costs.
In Greece, the percentage of private health expenditure that comes directly from the income of citizens amounts to 40% and only 4% of this concerns health insurance. Do you think that this balance will change and in which direction?
It is a fact that the Greek of 2019 has not yet acquired a full insurance conscience, although the social health system is clearly declining more and more. In most cases it is necessary for a health incident to occur in or near him with significant financial damage to lead him to seek a solution in the insurance industry. In many cases, he considers private health insurance unnecessary but at the same time inaccessible. The high rates of private spending relative to the corresponding rates of insurance coverage in the insurance industry prove just that. The information that the Greek of our time may ignore, however, is that the average cost of a 3-day hospitalization in a private hospital reaches almost € 2,500, and the coverage rate of EOPYY on average for hospitalizations in private institutions is about 10%. He may also be unaware that the implementation of Solvency II, combined with the gradual increase in production in the health sector, has resulted in a significant reduction in the cost of private health programs.
At wedo.insure we see that the situation is already changing rapidly and the Greek prospective client is gaining an insurance conscience every day more and more. Insurance coverage is now the only way and this is becoming more and more conscious every day. At the same time, the increase in the production of health contracts in the life sector of insurance companies proves the necessity that exists. In the coming years, I believe that we will face a more educated public with an increased insurance awareness and we will be called upon to provide specialized insurance solutions.
So we must be ready cognitively and with a sense of real interest to be able to offer services that will meet the maximum insurance needs of our prospective Greek client, to make him feel the real benefits of insurance coverage through insurance market programs
How do you think the Greek culture regarding private insurance can change?
At first I think it has already started to change in recent years, a fact that I confirm daily with my interactions with my prospective clients.
In this direction has helped and will continue to help all the activity from the insurance industry in general. We have seen many campaigns from the insurance companies but also from the Association of Insurance Companies of Greece, with very nice phrases such as “insuring means taking care”. Another factor that has already helped and concerns the client’s confidence in the insurance intermediary is the new legal framework that now governs the insurance industry (SOLVENCY II, IDD 4583/2018, GDPR 4624/2019) and obliges them to remain active in the Our market is only professional insurance consultants and in fact with constant re-certification of knowledge. As long as the commendable effort is continued by all insurance agents and at the same time the sale is made with strict criteria of protection of the prospective client, I believe that the culture of the Greek for private insurance will change drastically for the better.
Let me add that at wedo.insure we also put our little stone, as at the moment we are preparing a campaign of innovative spots that will be displayed in the near future on social media and our goal is of course to help us in the development of his insurance consciousness. Greek!
How much can technology and social media change communication with the potentially insured?
Technology and social media is the main reason that there is direct information and communication with the potential or uninsured customer. This creates a sense of security and professionalism as it minimizes the reaction time to providing information. Through these channels at wedo.insure we can offer immediate information either in bulk on issues that we deem we need to disclose or individually / specifically for information requested by them. Even the older generations who are not so familiar with technology I think satisfy to the maximum their need for communication with astonishing immediacy.
This is the reason why at wedo.insure we have invested in digital upgrades in recent years and run information campaigns on all social media of our Company. Our new corporate site that goes up in a very short time is set up so that it can provide personalized information to our active customer and general knowledge to the potential customer.
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