A woman's perspective on insurance

Ana’s passion for astronomy and her dream of working for NASA seemed to plot the professional path she would follow. "I loved Quantum Physics, anything to do with stars, going to the Moon, to Mars…,” Ana remembers with youthful enthusiasm.

Nevertheless, this area was underdeveloped in Portugal and so the need for professional stability prevailed. Ana enrolled in an Economics degree at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, a course she considers an enriching experience: "It prompted us to scrutinize and question policies and systems so that we became thinkers and not executers,” she says, explaining her choice.

Ana’s first role was in asset management at the financial department of Santa Casa da Misericórdia. At a chance meeting with Luís Portugal, a director at the Portuguese Association of Insurers ‑ Associação Portuguesa de Seguradores (APS), Ana was challenged to join APS as an advisor in financial and administrational management that lead her into the world of insurance where she still is after 29 years with the same passion and commitment.

Ana recalls: "I started giving technical support to several insurance areas which as time went on, enabled me to acquire a macro‑vision of the insurance market.”

In 1985 an opportunity arose for Ana to join the team at Victoria Seguros as Corporate Director – an experience she says contributed to her knowledge of the insurance sector, particularly in the health and life areas. Ana explains: "In Victoria Seguros I acquired technical competences and practical experience in a broad range of areas. I worked with many brokers and multi‑national clients and had the support of great mentors, colleagues who would provide ‘on the job’ training, such as José Ribeiro (Life insurance) and Inês Murteira (Health insurance), who are reputed professionals in their areas of expertise.

She continues: "After 12 years at Victoria Seguros, a post‑graduate colleague at the Instituto de Formação Actuarial (Insurance and Pensions Post Graduate course), asked if I was interested in a MDS project to create specific technical areas; something totally unique to brokers, demonstrating MDS’s aptitude for innovation.”

By 2007, Ana was asked by MDS Group CEO, José Manuel Dias da Fonseca, to take responsibility for developing its Employee Benefits portfolio, an area which is an important part of the group’s activity. Ana points out: "My years of work in the brokerage area have been very intense, but equally enriching. There are always numerous challenges and a desire to do more to meet the needs of every client. Society’s evolution and the emergence of new risks will always ensure we are constantly learning and motivated to do better and be different.”

In this context, she believes brokers will always have a pivotal role: "Our work as brokers allows us to have a global vision of what the market can offer and our closeness to clients ensures we can understand their needs. But MDS is much more than an insurance broker, it is a consultant that helps clients find the best risk solutions.”

We asked Ana about the sector’s evolution over the last few years and what she sees are the future challenges in the Employee Benefits area.

"The sector is clearly evolving, just look at the Life & Health area. Nowadays, clients are increasingly looking for insurance which covers medical expenses for serious and incapacitating illnesses. They have greater awareness of the need for this insurance and so this line of business continues to grow.”

In addition, Ana highlights the risks associated with the growth in company‑wide globalization: "As demand increases for insurance to cover trips, expatriates and other situations resulting from market globalization, the market will need to respond with new solutions.”

She mentions the new risks associated with longevity: "Living longer impacts pensions’ sustainability and we should also think about how to tackle the physical dependence risks ‑ an area not monitored by the insurance sector. Our challenge is to ensure the market provides the appropriate solutions; we are closest to the clients so we can see how their needs are changing. Existing solutions do not meet those needs.”

Will the insurance sector have the capacity to provide alternative solutions or will they complement the Government’s role in the social area? Ana replies: "The insurance sector has an essential role which can be complementary or alternative. I think it’s possible to develop a short to mid‑term alternative model, and as for the complementary approach, I believe this is also possible. There are already complementary solutions to the Government’s provision, such as pension plans, retirement savings plan and health insurance. However, for them to be efficient, more stable regulation is needed. Insurance can only be seen as a complementary support when it is viewed by society as delivering benefits, which does not always happen.”

This year Ana completes a decade of leadership in the Employee Benefits area at MDS. So how has she created such a successful team? She explains: "It is not about inheriting or creating a team. As I became more involved in the business and client management at MDS, I built the team around me. This enabled me to choose people I felt had the right competences, development potential and ethos for teamwork; all essential factors for success.” 

Does being a woman create leadership challenges and opportunities and does having a feminine perspective add value to the team? "I have never felt discriminated, positively or negatively, for being a woman. I am not in favour of quotas or the fact that some positions must be occupied by men or women. I do believe however, there are some areas where intuition, sensitivity and one’s affection for what you do, may be different because of your gender. The truth is, not all women have these characteristics. But what is proven is that women, in contrast to men, have multi‑tasking capacity. Nevertheless, I believe in equal opportunities for all people who want them.”

A natural‑born sportswoman, Ana puts what she has learnt from her sporting experiences into her personal life – she has been a gymnast with Sporting Clube de Portugal for over 30 years. Ana confirms: "Sport, and specifically gymnastics, was a major influence in my life. Outside of my family, gymnastics has been a pillar of strength for me, both in terms of education and the values I gained from it, which I still hold. Gymnastics instilled in me a spirit of sacrifice, the need for dedication and working as a team (I always took part in group gymnastics). We learnt the discipline of time management; sport never stopped me being a good student.”

Her years as a gymnast took Ana to many destinations and remarkable situations, which she still remembers nostalgically: "Gymnastics gave me great experiences – getting to know Portugal from the north to the south and international trips, including one to Macau and China in 1984. Representing the club and our country gave us a sense of great responsibility and enormous pride.”

Ana’s trip to China was back then, a cultural shock, but also an experience of an 80’s China which will forever be in her memory. She outlines: "We travelled from Macau to Canton in a Second World War bus, a 100 km trip that took 6 hours, crossing villages deep in the middle of China. When we left the bus for lunch, the locals would look at us as if we were aliens from Mars, as it was rare for them to see westerners. Their different tastes also gave us some difficulties. On a couple of occasions no one was able to eat; once we were served a raw fish, still bouncing and another time, a rooster with its comb. When we uncovered the dishes, no one would eat – it was a unique experience that won’t be forgotten.”

Ana describes her family and friends as ‘indispensable and alongside this, lists gymnastics, walking mainly on sunny winter days’, books and TV series, especially history and science fiction, as her main hobbies. "My interest in astronomy never faded,” she adds.

"I had several life mottos,” Ana confirms, "but as mottos change throughout life, the values remain, so I prefer to be without them.” 

It is with pride that, what started unexpectedly, has now become a vocation, maybe because of the fascination she has for the ‘human side’ of insurance and her desire to make a difference to people’s lives. "I am motivated by a need to change the image people have of insurance. We do not have a good reputation yet insurance is an important part of society; we are able to support people in difficult situations and help at a time they need us most”, she says.