Sompo Seguros started 2021 announcing the change of command in Brazil. Since January, Alfredo Lalia Neto became the company’s CEO. And for this new year, the executive has already set his goal: to continue the expansion plans of the insurance company through investments in its different lines of products and services to achieve scope and market share, with sustainability and focus on the customer. “The mission is to lead this new phase of the company in Brazil. We are talking about a group with more than 130 years of experience in Japan and has a consolidated operation in Brazil, which for years has maintained the highest rating indexes of financial strength by rating agencies and which is the second largest subsidiary outside the country’s origin group”, observes the executive.
“Since my arrival, I have already held more than one hundred thematic meetings with the company’s leaders, in which I was able to go deeper into the processes and reinforce our strategic planning with a focus on the customer and partners. We have already defined our short-term ambition and we are now working out our medium and long-term ambitions. We decided to direct our actions so that Sompo continues to increase quality in terms of coverage and service provision in the various product lines that we offer”, says Lalia Neto. For this, the digitization process is a fundamental part.
At Sompo Seguros, investments in information technology made in recent years were crucial to provide a series of services that added value to insurance and increased the customer’s journey with the insurance company. All policy information and 24 Hour Assistance can be requested by policyholders via App. Ever Insurance brokers followed the launch of new quotation systems, digital processes that made inspections and claims regulation even more agile, in addition to new tools in the broker’s website that contribute to the management of portfolios maintained with the company.
A relevant factor is that such process must take place in keeping with Sompo Seguros’ recognized Open Doors policy. The company currently has over 26 thousand brokers and 69 insurance advisory partners throughout Brazil and, despite the challenges imposed by the pandemic, the commercial team maintained a rhythm of more than 800 monthly business and strategic support meetings to the partners.
Lalia Neto evaluates that the pandemic induced profound changes in social and professional relationships, which will require a significant effort by the insurance market agents to understand and answer the new consumer present-dayinteraction’s forms and demands. “The digitization process will be crucial, as well as a traditional face to face contact acclimation,” he analyzes. “But, certainly, close and human contact will still be the main differential to attract the customer’s reliability. To abbreviate: I believe that the proper equation between ‘physical’ and ‘digital’ will be the competitive differential in the future”, says the executive.

Trajectory

Despite being a newcomer, the new CEO of Sompo Seguros is already well acquainted with and follows the company’s evolution in recent years. In fact, its entry into the insurance market took place at one of the group’s companies. “When I was young, I didn’t know the insurance industry. I went for a bachelor’s and postgraduate degree in Physics and as I decided not to pursue an academic career, I started looking for an opportunity. I became aware of an insurance company that had opened a program and, after the entire selection process, I was approved as a trainee. That company was Yasuda Seguros, one of the companies that would later give rise to the Sompo Seguros brand in Brazil ”.
In almost four years at the company, he has achieved results, such as being the youngest professional to take an executive position and being at the head of the automobile portfolio, which represented 60% of the company’s premium volume, achieving a 6% loss rate reduction in a period when the market faced challenges. “It was during this period that I developed my passion for the segment and decided to set up a career in the area”, he recalls.
In more than 27 years dedicated to the market, Lalia Neto has experienced the various transformations in the segment. He also held positions such as Technical and Products Director in practically all branches, including Automobile, P&C, Transport, Life, Private Pension, Capitalization Bonds and Health. He was also Brazil and Latin America Chief Risk Officer and CEO in two of the ten largest market companies. “I went to several companies, I lived with many professionals working in different cultures and I was in charge of very challenging projects. Now I decided to come to Sompo, with the motivation to return to a house where I learned a lot, in highly line with my values ​​and that was the shaping pillar of my career ”.