FOR CHARLES MONAT, tailoring insurance policies to produce cash when it is needed at a cheaper rate than it would cost to raise money from alternative sources, such as from a bank, is much like being a social worker.
'What I have been doing in Hong Kong for the past 35 years is an extension of the social work I used to do for the Department of Health in New York City,' said the chairman of leading insurance firm Charles Monat Associates. 'It is of redeeming social value, and all the staff who work with me can see this as well.'
He said customers received practical assistance and substantial benefits in times of difficulty, which meant that employees could feel good about the work they did.
Mr Monat originally arrived in Hong Kong via Thailand. He had served there as a United States army lieutenant at a support base for B-52 bombers in Pattaya. After returning to New York in 1969, he came back to work for an insurance brokerage, known then as Robilec International and later taken over by global insurer Aon.
'They sent me to their Hong Kong office where I was appointed as an estate planning manager to sell insurance to Americans,' he said. The job involved financial and wealth planning, using insurance products to provide liquidity.
In 1971, he decided to branch out on his own and, with just US$5,000 in savings, set up his current firm as a one-man insurance brokerage run from a friend's office.