When Will This Industry Ever Learn?

I would like to be able to report to you today what industry titan Hank Greenberg said in his speech before the Conference of Special Risk Underwriters, but unfortunately and inexplicably, the organization refused to permit press coverage. This is yet another example of the industry not only shooting itself in the foot, but in the head, killing its own already sullied reputation.

To be fair to Mr. Greenberg, the former AIG chief who now runs C.V. Starr, this has nothing to do with him personally. In my 26 years covering insurance, he has never banned the media from his many speaking engagements. This was a policy set down by CSRU–a surprise, since we covered the group's luncheons for years without incident or complaint.

For some incomprehensible reason, this open door policy was reversed. In fact, I would not have even heard about the meeting or Mr. Greenberg's appearance unless someone had anonymously tipped me off. When I called a CSRU officer to request press credentials, I was told politely but firmly that no press was allowed.

This is not only counterproductive on a micro level (since it denies a very small group national exposure, which might actually help CSRU recruit new members), but on a macro level it is just another example of how this ham-handed industry mismanages its reputational risk.

Think about it. An industry being hammered in Congress for abusing the privileges of its federal antitrust exemption turns around and holds a closed meeting for 150 or so select individuals to hear a leading player share his wisdom and views. Is this any way to convince Washington that the industry doesn't “conspire” and “collude” behind closed doors? I think not.

I was particularly disappointed because Mr. Greenberg doesn't get around as much as he used to, prior to his clash with then New York Attorney General (now Governor) Eliot Spitzer and the Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations of bid-rigging and balance sheet manipulations when he presided over AIG.

In fact, since his personal legal problems are not yet behind him, the few times he does address industry groups these days, he has been restricting his commentary to important but relatively mundane topics like opening trade with China and tort reform. So we probably didn't miss much.

But on principle, this was a really bad decision on CSRU's part, and I hope the negative publicity from this blog posting convinces them to reverse course in the future. At the very least, I hope it discourages others from following their poor example.

Insurers always complain they are misunderstood and unappreciated. Banning media coverage of a major industry official speaking publicly to his peers (not that Mr. Greenberg has any peers, but you know what I mean) makes me wonder if the critics aren't right.