In a statement sent to Insurance Business following the High Court decision on the poaching lawsuit, Sue Langley OBE declared: “The UK board undertook a fundamental review with expert external input when this matter first came to light six months ago. At Gallagher we adopt the highest standards to promote an inclusive culture, and this will remain a priority for the board.”
Langley is non-executive chairman of Gallagher UK.
“We are committed to working in partnership with the market to cultivate a positive, diverse, and inclusive insurance industry and we will be appointing a new head of CSR to work with our existing team to build momentum still further, internally and within the wider insurance market,” she noted.
Meanwhile the chief executive of Gallagher’s UK broking and underwriting business issued an apology following their litigation loss.
“We are incredibly proud of the strong and positive culture we have at Gallagher, something that is directly reflected in the exceptionally high scores our colleagues gave for important cultural indicators such as trust, respect, pride, diversity, and advocacy in our annual engagement survey, all of which have increased further in the last 12 months,” said Simon Matson, who called one of the executives who made the switch to Ardonagh a “complicated fat Arab” – a remark brought to light during the course of the legal battle over the alleged poaching.
“As such, I am very sorry for the insensitive comments that were made by me and other individuals, which absolutely do not reflect the culture within our organisation.”
