NEWYORKCITY Starr’s Strength

An Interview with Maurice R. Greenberg, Starr Companies

EDITORS’ NOTE Maurice R. Are you primarily focused on also imposed rules that made it diffi- Greenberg is Chairman of Starr China when you look at opportuni- cult for foreign companies to do business and Insurance Companies, a global ties in Asia? compete on an equal basis with Chinese com- insurance and investment orga- We look at many countries in panies. Those conditions exist today for many nization. Starr was founded by Southeast Asia as growth opportuni- companies, and together with the historic tar- Cornelius Vander Starr in 1919 in ties. We have a long history in the iffs, they are the basis of the disagreements , China. Greenberg formed Philippines and in Hong Kong. We’re that the U.S. has with China, and vice versa. It the American International Group, hoping to be in Malaysia soon. But is in the national interest of both countries to Inc. (AIG) as a Starr subsidiary, and China is a large, expanding economy, resolve these issues. served as that company’s Chairman and our business in China is growing. Will the U.S. be able to compete with the and CEO until March 2005. Under What are your views on U.S./ entrepreneurial spirit and work ethic of China? his nearly 40 years of leadership, AIG China relations and how critical is Chinese people are very smart, but so are grew from an initial market value of Maurice R. Greenberg this relationship? those from the U.S. We have plenty of technol- $300 million to $180 billion, becom- Many of the tariffs that are being ogy companies here. ing the largest insurance company in the world. fought about today are tariffs we agreed to There has been some question as to whether Greenberg is also the Chairman of The Starr years ago when China needed help to get its or not China has been fair in how they have Foundation, a philanthropic organization ini- economy started. gotten information. Many companies are com- tially funded by Cornelius Vander Starr’s estate. The Foundation has made more than $3 billion in grants worldwide to many academic, medical, cultural and public policy organizations around the world. Greenberg received his pre-law certif- icate from the University of Miami and an LL.B. from New York Law School. China is a large, expanding economy, and COMPANY BRIEF Starr Insurance Companies (starrcompanies.com) is a global, privately- held insurance and investments organization. our business in China is growing. Through its operating insurance companies, Starr Insurance Companies provides commer- cial property and casualty, and accident and health insurance products worldwide, with sig- nifi cant access to the U.S. excess and surplus marketplace for certain lines of business. Starr Insurance Companies underwrites a wide vari- ety of specialty and international lines includ- When China’s revolution ended and the plaining that they can’t get into China unless they ing aviation, marine, energy, environmental, communist party won control, Deng Xiaoping, share their knowledge about certain technologies crisis management, excess casualty insurance, who succeeded , understood that with China. accident and health, and political risk insur- for China to succeed economically, it needed to No other countries do this, and these issues ance. Starr Insurance Companies also pro- have a close working relationship with the U.S. should be addressed as the two countries nego- vides a broad spectrum of insurance-related He visited New York and Washington and met tiate their differences. services, including claims handling and settle- with the Council on Foreign Relations. All those Is innovation taking place in the insur- ment, reinsurance, risk assessment, loss control who met Deng were impressed by his candor ance industry? and worldwide travel assistance service. and his belief that a close working relationship There is a lot of innovation taking place with the U.S. was necessary. Deng’s succes- today. The insurance industry failed to change dis- Will you discuss Starr’s global footprint and sor, Jiang Zemin, maintained roughly the same tribution for many years. But it’s changing now. key markets? policies as his predecessor, knowing that the Many companies want to build business on We cover Asia, Latin America and London U.S. relationship would benefi t the economy in a direct basis, and even more than that, they’re very well, in addition to the . China. Over the years, China climbed economi- being more selective on the kind of risk they We’ve grown quickly. It’s a tough market and cally so it is now the second largest economy want to write. politically there are a lot of diffi culties, so we in the world. On the commercial side, a broker is still emphasize those areas where we know we have Throughout this period, the U.S. encour- the main method of distribution. Is that going to more opportunity. We will continue to evaluate aged trade and offered beneficial terms to change? Everything is going to change. It’s only expansion as needed. China to help them grow their economy. But a matter of when and who does it.• 60 LEADERS POSTED WITH PERMISSION. COPYRIGHT © 2018 LEADERS MAGAZINE, INC. VOLUME 41, NUMBER 4