Aflac, TSYS CEOs discuss economic concerns, North Korea and more

We wrap up another solid quarterly financial season for the three major publicly traded companies headquartered right here in Columbus, those being Synovus, TSYS and Aflac. So it’s time to empty the notebook with a few thoughts from their CEOs.

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We spoke a couple of weeks ago with Kessel Stelling, chairman and chief executive officer of regional bank Synovus. After the company’s annual shareholder meeting, he sat down to discuss briefly the bank’s involvement in Bass Pro Shops’ acquisition of Cabela’s, as well as the change of the Columbus Bank and Trust name to simply Synovus. He also touched on the company’s new office complex presence near the Atlanta Braves’ new home, SunTrust Park, but without mentioning the banking rival by name.

(Aflac stock moving into proverbial sweet spot range for a split)

(Synovus to make $75 million, retain deposits in Bass Pro-Cabela’s merger)

(TSYS racks up $105.9 million profit on $1.2 billion in revenues)

In the vein of brevity, you can read that story at ledger-enquirer.com. Thus, we will skip forward to a quick conversation with Aflac Chairman and CEO Dan Amos following his firm’s annual meeting this week, while also sharing a few thoughts from TSYS Chairman and CEO Troy Woods on the day last week that his credit-card processing firm released its first-quarter earnings report.

First up with his outside-the-numbers comments is Amos, who has been CEO of Aflac Inc. since 1990 and chairman of the board since 2001:

Q. What concerns you most in terms of the company’s business?

A. I guess what I would tell you is a low-interest rate environment for a sustained period of time is always the biggest concern I have. We have adjusted to that. We’ve increased premiums on policies by filing new products and taken that into account. But that is certainly something that is outside our control and we just have to work within it. But keeping a good risk profile and not taking too much chance and protecting what we have is my first priority, and then building on top of that. So I always worry about something, but I feel pretty good.

The one thing, if you go back to Obamacare, I worried whether or not (federal lawmakers) were going to go out and say: If you buy this product everything is covered. You don’t need anything else. It’s very clear now, that’s over. No one thinks that for a minute if you buy a product everything’s covered. So as long as there are outside expenses, either conventional outside expenses or unexpected expenses that are not medical related, but indirectly related, (customers are) going to need our policies and services. So I’m encouraged by that.

Q. Do world events, such as the U.S. tension with North Korea (located not far from Japan), worry you?

A. It’s outside our control, but I think the government is going out of their way to protect Japan and South Korea as well. They can also hit Hawaii. There are a lot of places they can get. So do I worry about it? Of course, I worry a little bit about it. Am I really concerned? No. When you deal with somebody (Kim Jong-un) in North Korea like that, I can’t help but think he has the the good life and it’s not like he’s religious-driven. So he’s more interested in keeping that good life. I’m not so sure he’s willing to give it up.

Q. You’ve been such a steady hand for Aflac. How much longer will you lead the company?

A. I said I would stay until I’m at least 70. That’s basically five years. So I’m in no hurry. I love what I do. Things can change, but considering the way they are, as long as they want to keep me, I want to stay.

Here are a few thoughts from Troy Woods, who noted that his firm is “clicking on all cylinders”:

Q. What concerns do you have with the company, the economy or the world in general?

A. You think about a lot of things, in no particular order. But you mentioned the economy. In our business, particularly our issuing business, since we are outside of North America with our issuing business. So you worry about what goes on with the European Union. You worry to some degree about Brexit and maybe even Frexit (France’s exit from the EU). You worry about (things) like everybody else would: What’s going on in North Korea, down in Syria and the hotspots around the world and what that might do to the market, to trade, to the strength of the dollar, which has been doing really well the last several quarters. So you put all of that in one pocket.

On the good side of that, most of our customers are banks, and the health of banks have been really, really good. So that’s one I don’t worry about quite as much as I used to. They’ve really done well over the last couple of years, and particularly since the election, at least on their stock prices.

I worry about data security like everybody. When you’re sitting on the kind of data that we sit on, and the kind of personal information that we are responsible for, it’s a daunting responsibility to protect it 24/7. So data security and breaches and protecting out customers’ data is a concern.

Regulation is a concern. It’s mind-boggling the amount of regulation that all of us really have to face in our daily lives, both personal and corporate.

Q. Do you anticipate any major relief from government regulations?

A. I don’t know. I hope so. It’s really tough. It’s bad. My gut says in the biggest scheme of things, they will not. I think the inertia of government is so big. I think a president can issue all of the executive orders he wants, but what I see in Washington right now, primarily in the Senate, without getting eight Democrats on your side, you’re not getting anything of any significance done. I mean, hell, they had to do the nuclear option just to get (Neil) Gorsuch on the Supreme Court ... Government has just gotten so big and so dysfunctional, I don’t know if we’re going to get any super relief.

Q. So some things are simply out of your control?

A. Sure, you can’t control all of that. But at the same time you’ve got to be aware of it. You’ve got to be involved. You’ve got to work with your trade groups and your congressmen and your senators to make sure that either what they’re thinking about doing doesn’t get done, if it’s not good, or trying to get undone something that you don’t think is good … And, of course, you’ve always got, like any CEO, any executive would, to think about growth, to make sure you’re growing your company and developing your people. Trust me, I have some sleepless nights.