Another meeting with The Reinsurance Tutorials, episode #9 - Season 4
Hi everybody 👋
Today is the launch of the 9th and last episode of the Reinsurance Tutorials season 4!
We will talk about "Local features seen by our LATAM Underwriters".
This topic will be addressed by our Arundo Re experts José-Luis CAMPOS, Olivier COLLIGNON, Emmanuel JACQUEMIN et Georges GUZMAN.
Let’s start! ⏬
[José Luis]: Latin America is so diverse! Even if we do speak Spanish in most of our countries, it isn’t the same Spanish. It could actually resemble another language. There is a multitude of examples, however just to quote one example: during my first trip to Bogotá, I went to a client meeting one morning and at the beginning of the meeting they asked me “¿Qué le provoca?”, which to a Mexican is understood as “What do you want to do?” which has no sense when starting off a meeting. My face was literally like “What?!”
The next question was: “Would you like red wine or an infusion?” so I’m left wondering are they really offering me red wine first thing in the morning as opposed to coffee - is this normal here?!
Obviously, when the client saw my perplexed face, they just burst out laughing.
[Olivier]: One thing I never fail to do every time I visit a country in the region, and as soon as I get off the plane, is sniff out the social climate. This tends to take place with the taxi drivers since they are the first people I come across.
Of course I can’t tell you here all the discussions I’ve had but for sure you do learn a lot when speaking with people outside of our work environment and listening to people’s concerns. And the more diverse the better.
However, we need to know them, hear them directly, understand them and transfer them to our industry.
Once, back in my beloved country, I got into a lively discussion with a taxi driver… it goes without saying that we have plenty of topics to be get passionate and angry about … and so half an hour later upon arrival at our destination we were still going ….. By this time, I was obviously a few minutes late and some ‘pesos’ short as the taxi meter was also contributing to the discussion, but I must say it was a fantastic investment.
[Georges]: My anecdote relates to Mexico City. It was there in a hotel breakfast room that a lady who was in charge of cooking breakfast for the clients had placed different spicy sauces in front of her stall. Being a fan of “chillis” myself, we began a conversation about the topic. The following day, she was waiting for me in the breakfast room with a small selection of Mexican chillis for me to try...
[Emmanuel]: I discovered Latin America when the French army sent me to carry out my military service as a development worker in Cuba in 1995.
I remember that when I arrived in Havana, I didn’t understand a word since the Spanish they had taught me in school during my studies was really quite different to Cuban Spanish.
A couple of days later, I called a gentleman from the ministry to organise a meeting. His secretary answered and I asked her to put me through to the person I was looking for and she answers:
“Of course, no problem. Just a moment, mi amor.”
I was petrified. In France, only my wife can call me “darling” and even that doesn’t happen every day!
This just shows the affection that you receive in Latin Ameria. I loved this kind of affection and went I left Cuba in 1997 I was even using “mi amor” for my Cuban colleagues.
Thank you very much for your continued trust and look forward to welcoming you back for the next season👋
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