Yoshiro Makita has been appointed to the role of Insurance Leader for Australia within PwC Australia’s Financial Services business after the departure of Bernadette Howlett at the end of last year.

Mr Makita has 23 years’ experience and has led management consulting with insurance clients across Japan, Australia, US and South East Asia. He has advised on operating model design, separation and integration, digital transformation and insurtech investment and will help PwC insurance clients solve their complex and multi-faceted issues in his new role.

“We are thrilled to have Yoshiro join the partnership,” PwC Australia Financial Services Leader Tom Gunson said. “Yoshiro brings a wealth of experience to the role and is well positioned to help our clients and the broader industry adapt to the changing landscape.”

In an interview with insuranceNEWS.com.au, Mr Makita says he returned to Sydney from Japan four months ago and he sees a lot of opportunity for insurers to improve margins and the customer experience, and says “now is the time to really get into the digital side of insurance”.

“Working with the brokers and supply chain players creating that collaborative environment and really showing what is in it for them as well – I think that is the key, to get all the players together and come to a unified path where everyone is working in the same direction on a better outcome for customers, and for the industry as well,” he said.

Insurance should adopt standardisation of non-competing areas across competitors so “everyone can just plug into this platform without trying to recreate the same thing,” he says, freeing insurers to “reallocate their investment money into more competitive investments rather than spending money on something that can be standardised across industries”.

It will also be key for insurance companies to partner with new channels to reach new customer segments, and Mr Makita expects further new alliances with start-ups and tech companies and an end to horizontal integration – in which insurance companies buy other insurance companies and create scale – and more “vertical integration” to reach out to customers.

“It will definitely open the door for new customer segments, especially younger customer segments,” he said.

In the next six months, he will be focused on helping clients with margin improvement, transformation of business and operating models.

“Given my background working with clients in Japan, the US and Southeast Asia, I have worked with a lot of clients on the insurtech and innovating the business model front, so it is really about defining what are the next big things for the insurance clients,” he said. “I like to be part of that discussion with our clients and bring some of the thinking out there to this market.”