Looking back at my 2024

2024 was not a good year for many. On 12 January, the US and others began rocket attacks on Houthi forces in Yemen. On 1 October, Israel invaded southern Lebanon due to ongoing shelling by Hezbollah. On 8 December, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who had been in power for 24 years, fled to Moscow. But also the assassination attempt on 5 December on the CEO of the health insurer United Healthcare Brian Thompson in New York. And still not settled is the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine, which has been ongoing since 24 February 2022 in violation of international law.

I will now review the past six months on thebroker and suggest six articles that I consider important for one reason or another.

January 2024

Last year, thebroker also published many articles, interviews and videos. I still remember the interview with Markus Lehmann, the president of the Swiss Insurance Brokers Association SIBA, who is a strong advocate for insurance brokers. There was a lot of consolidation in the broker market last year, and this will continue in 2025. The biggest challenges were posed by the regulations of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA. As a former CVP National Councillor, Lehmann knows exactly who to talk to in Bern. thebrokernews will be working even more closely with SIBA in the coming year.

You can find the interview with Markus Lehmann here.

February 2024

There was also coverage of the Future of Health Grant (FoHG), where eight new start-ups were selected to revolutionise digital health. The FoHG programmeis supported by health insurer CSS and the EPFL Innovation Park. Selected start-ups receive individual support worth between CHF 10,000 and 90,000 and join a dynamic ecosystem of key players dedicated to improving the efficiency of the healthcare system with digital technologies. thebroker has continued to present new start-ups throughout the year and will continue to do so in 2025.

Here, you will find the article entitled ‘Future of Health Grant: 8 start-ups selected to revolutionise digital health’.

March 2024

It makes me very happy that I was able to introduce one of the most extraordinary women entrepreneurs in my interview. Sonja Kohn was one of the most successful bankers for many years. When she lived in the United States for a few years in 1985, she was dubbed ‘The Viennese of Wall Street’. Even then, she had the idea of issuing a zero coupon bond whose return was linked to Standard & Poor’s, meaning that Bank Austria, which at the time had a AAA rating, issued a fund that did not pay interest but was linked to the US market. This idea suited the bank very well and it was the first collaboration between Sonja and the bank.

Sonja Kohn’s latest baby is called BestFit. The programme deciphers how people, customers, products and services best fit together. In doing so, it identifies over 35 different personal characteristics, such as: Do people decide rationally or emotionally? Do they prefer a competitor analysis or a testimonial from a happy customer, what level of sophistication does the person possess, what about their risk appetite, etc.?

Here you will find the written interview with Sonja Kohn: ‘BestFit: Interview with one of the most extraordinary and successful entrepreneurs, Sonja Kohn’

April 2024

We were also always interested in studies, such as the one on ‘Vision and the current state of transformation in the insurance industry’, which was presented by the ZHAW School of Management and Law in collaboration with Cognizant and Amazon Web Services (AWS) at Cognizant in the Prime Tower. Among other things, it looked at the benefits of AI for insurers. It was found that AI makes us more productive and efficient and can generate a return. But it is also a key performance indicator (KPI). Babak Hodjat, CTO AI at Cognizant, said: ‘In the insurance industry, not only end users, but also decision-makers should be persuaded to trust AI systems’.

Here you will find the article on the ‘Study on data skills by ZHAW with Cognizant and AWS’

May 2024

In an interview, David Rosenthal, one of Switzerland’s leading experts in data and technology law at VISCHER AG, talks about the AI Act passed by the EU in mid-March 2024. You will learn why there are different contracts for a whole range of variants of tools such as ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot. Some meet the requirements for business customers, others do not meet them at all. Since the topic of AI and its use is very close to my heart, this interview with David Rosenthal also contains some overviews that will help you.

Here is the interview with David Rosenthal: ‘ATTENTION: AI use from a legal perspective‘

June 2024

I would like to recommend another interview to you, because the topic of cyber security is also one of the most important of all. Shira Kaplan is the founder and CEO of Cyverse AG and Cyverse Capital. She spent her military service as an intelligence analyst in the elite technology unit 8200 of the Israeli secret service. She is a globally renowned cybersecurity expert who wishes Switzerland would take more risks. She says: ‘If the Swiss (and Bern) put their hearts and minds into it, the venture capital industry here will go a long way over the next 20 years.’

You can read the interview here: ‘Shira Kaplan: Building up a Cybersecurity Ecosystem in Switzerland‘.

The next six recommended contributions will be available on Monday, 30 December 2024.

Binci Heeb

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