Hugo Serra, GCO and Occident CEO: “Insurance is evolving from compensation towards service provision and prevention”
“Insurance is evolving from compensation towards service provision and prevention,” said Hugo Serra, CEO of GCO, which will be renamed Grupo Occident on 1 December, at a new Esade Matins session.
Serra explained that the insurance industry is undergoing a profound transformation of its traditional business model. Historically focused on compensating policyholders for claims, the sector has progressively expanded its value proposition through service provision and is now moving towards increasingly preventive models.
The aim, he noted, is to develop solutions that help anticipate risks, reduce their impact and, whenever possible, prevent claims from occurring in the first place. This evolution is also reflected in the diversification of Occident’s services, with initiatives related to pet insurance, home and rental insurance, support for older people, home adaptations for people with special needs, and psychological care.
“We see the business not only as a risk business, but also as a service business,” Serra explained. In this regard, he highlighted the group’s ambition to build an ecosystem of solutions that provides greater value to customers and supports them throughout the different stages of their lives.
An industry facing new challenges
The insurance industry is facing a landscape shaped by major structural, economic and regulatory changes. Among the main challenges, Serra highlighted population ageing, sustainability, technological transformation, economic volatility, changing interest rates and geopolitical uncertainty.
In this context, he paid particular attention to climate-related risks and the impact of certain weather events, which pose new challenges for both citizens and insurance companies. Serra stressed the need to move towards models with greater capacity for anticipation. Prevention, he explained, can help provide better protection for customers, limit the consequences of these events and improve the sector’s response.
Artificial intelligence with measurable returns
Artificial intelligence is another major driver of transformation in the sector. Serra explained that the Group is taking a selective and cautious approach to its adoption, assessing the processes in which it can provide distinctive value and those where human intervention remains more effective.
The CEO of Occident noted that implementing this technology involves significant development and maintenance costs, rapid obsolescence and substantial energy consumption associated with data centres. For this reason, he argued that any investment in artificial intelligence should respond to a specific need, generate a clear return and allow its contribution to the business to be rigorously measured.
Growth, profitability and solvency
During the session, Serra also presented the main lines of the Group’s 2025–2027 strategic plan, whose purpose is to “lead in protecting and supporting people and companies throughout every stage of their lives”. The plan is built around three pillars: growth, profitability and solvency.
To advance these objectives, the Group has identified growth, digitalization, efficiency and cross-functional integration as strategic priorities. Ongoing projects include strengthening its commercial model, developing a comprehensive customer view, digitizing processes, evolving its technology platforms and improving operational efficiency.
Esade Matins, organized by Esade Alumni, are meetings where business and institutional leaders discuss the challenges facing their organizations and industries and share insights from their professional experience. On this occasion, Hugo Serra was accompanied by Patricia Valentí, director of Esade Alumni, and Luis Vives, director of Corporate Relations and Engagement at Esade.