Neil Skelding stepping down on January 31.

After 20 years with RBC Group, including the last 18 years as President and CEO of RBC Insurance, Neil Skelding is retiring on January 31, 2023. He can now dedicate more time to his family and other pursuits, which include outdoor sports and community involvement. 

Skelding joined RBC Insurance in January 2003 as Executive Vice President, Life Operations, said Doug Guzman, Group Head, RBC Wealth Management, RBC Insurance and RBC Investor & Treasury Services in a press release. Skelding previously worked with other insurers including Transamerica Life Canada (now iVari, acquired by Sagicor Financial Company on August 25, 2022). He was appointed president and CEO of RBC Insurance in 2004.

“During the next 18 years, Neil worked to establish RBC Insurance as Canada’s largest bank owned insurer,” Guzman said. Under Skelding's leadership, RBC Insurance grew to become the leading creditor and disability insurance provider in Canada, he added. 

A new generation of experience 

Neil Skelding told Insurance Portal that his succession was carefully planned for almost a year. As part of this transition, Jennifer Publicover was promoted to executive vice president and appointed CEO of RBC Insurance on January 1, 2023. 

Doug Guzman highlighted Publicover’s extensive global business experience and passion for leading and developing teams. He also lauded her expertise partnering across RBC. “Jennifer and Neil will work closely together over the coming weeks on this transition,” he adds. 

Jennifer Publicover joined RBC in 2018 as Vice President, Strategic Initiatives. She has established herself as an innovative strategic leader, says Doug Guzman. In 2019, Publicover joined the Wealth Management, Insurance & Investor and Treasury Services Operating Committee as Senior Vice President, Products & Strategy, Wealth Management. “In this global role, she leads a team of over 400 employees to deliver Wealth Management’s platform strategy, investments, digital and data solutions, credit and cash management and transformational programs,” Guzman notes. 

Notable achievements 

Doug Guzman notes that Neil Skelding played a pivotal role in creating the RBC Insurance branch strategy. This strategy led RBC Insurance to open more than 50 stores across Canada, “effectively growing the brand and making our insurance products more visible and accessible to Canadians,” Guzman said.

In 2016, RBC Insurance sold its P&C insurance business to Aviva Canada. Doug Guzman notes that Skelding was instrumental in this home and auto insurance agreement.

The President and CEO of RBC Insurance has also been a leading advocate for the industry beyond his role at RBC. For one, Skelding has chaired the CLHIA’s Marketplace Relations Standing Committee.

In addition, he is the past chair of the Canadian Association of Financial Institutions in Insurance (CAFII) and of the Industry Advisory Committee of Assuris, an organization that protects policyholders if their life insurer fails. 

Neil Skelding said he was particularly proud of the team’s diversity and unique culture. These factors fuelled the strong scores in RBC Insurance’s employee engagement survey, Doug Guzman notes. What’s more, Skelding “has been a mentor and advocate for the advancement of women and always pushed for greater diversity and inclusion at RBC Insurance,” Guzman says. 

A passion for health and education 

Neil Skelding told Insurance Portal he is grateful for the opportunity to have led a high-calibre group company for so many years. For the outgoing head of RBC Insurance, retirement does not mean leaving the insurance world behind. “I would like to give back to the industry. I’m not sure how I’m going to do that yet," he says. 

Skelding has many irons in the fire. The outgoing leader of RBC Insurance is particularly committed to building stronger communities, health care and education. He has served on the Board of Governors of McMaster University and as Chair of its Investment Pool Committee. He was appointed by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario as Chair of the Mississauga Halton Local Health Integration Network. Skelding also served as Chair of the Board of the Credit Valley Hospital, and co-led the voluntary merger of the Mississauga and Queensway hospitals. In April 2009, Skelding received the Wayne C. Fox Distinguished Alumni Award from McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business. 

Visionary 

A visionary and a regular source in our publications, Neil Skelding detailed the effects of the perfect storm that hit the industry after the 2008 crisis. In his view, additional capital requirements, new accounting standards, including the one for insurance contracts then in development (IFRS 4, now IFRS 17), and persistent low interest rates rocked the insurance world.

In a 2010 Insurance Journal article republished on Insurance Portal, Skelding predicted that the industry would be transformed by regulation and new accounting rules. He explained that consumers would have to pay more for insurance products if regulatory capital requirements were tightened.

Skelding likened the crisis to “a live stress test” for insurers, adding that “most insurers’ models were not built for a scenario of capital markets plunging as much as they did.” Another live stress test is the climate of low interest rates and low inflation over long periods of time, he adds.

In addition, Skelding talked to Insurance Portal about his views on the future of the industry and the distribution of insurance products. His projections will be featured in a soon to be published article on the outlook for the life and health insurance industry in 2023.