Asia: Sompo Canopius appoints CEO for Asia Pacific and Middle East
Sompo Canopius has appointed Mr Mark Newman as CEO of Sompo Canopius Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa. He is based in the Singapore office, reporting to Mr Mike Duffy, Group Chief Underwriting Officer.
Mr Newman has 30 years in insurance and has lived in Asia for the past 16.
Asia: XL Catlin introduces new Senior Underwriter of Political Risk & Trade Credit
XL Catlin’s insurance operations has appointed Ms Bonnie Chow as senior underwriter, Political Risk and Trade Credit insurance for Asia Pacific. She will be based in Sydney.
Ms Chow has over 20 years’ experience in the insurance and banking industries, specialising in complex cross border trade transactions and credit risk management. She joins XL Catlin from Zurich Insurance Australia, where she spent eight years in the credit and political risk division.
Asia: Allianz appoints new Chief Risk Officer
Allianz has appointed Mr Diego Rios as Chief Risk Officer for Asia Pacific region, where he will lead and develop the risk management practice for the insurer in the region.
Mr Rios has over a decade’s experience in risk management, and most recently served as Asia head of risk with Generali. With this appointment, he will be based in Allianz’s regional headquarters in Singapore, reporting into Regional CFO Renate Wagner.
Asia: AXA Asia unveils new Regional CRO and new Regional Chief Marketing
AXA Asia has appointed Ms Annie Tay as Regional Chief Risk Officer (CRO) and Mr Frédéric Tardy as Regional Chief Marketing, Digital, Data & Customer Officer.
Ms Tay will oversee the overall risk management framework to ensure compliance and governance is maintained and managed on a global, regional and local level. She will be supporting and guiding regional teams in the development and embedding of AXA’s risk system and controls and mitigation strategies in order to align with business risk appetites and its business objectives.
Mr Tardy will oversee areas that cover customers, marketing, innovation, data, digital and partnership development. As a member of the Regional Executive Committee, he will be instrumental in leading and driving the regional strategic direction for customer centricity and customer experience initiatives across all business lines.
Global: Willis Re has new APAC President and Bermuda CEO
Mr Michael Harden has returned to the Asia Pacific region as president of Willis Re Asia Pacific. He was previously CEO of Willis Re Bermuda.
Succeeding him in Bermuda is Mr Chris McDowell who has more than 30 years in the industry. He joins from Aon Benfield.
Hong Kong: Zurich names Head of Global Corporate Division
Zurich Insurance (Hong Kong) has appointed Mr Philip Chiu as the head of its Global Corporate Division. He was previously Zurich’s head of Financial Lines in Asia.
In his new role, Mr Chiu will expand upon Zurich’s existing product offering and propositions, with the view to provide customer-focused protection with innovative product solutions. He will directly report to Mr Keith Thomas, CEO Global Corporate APAC, with a matrix reporting line into Mr Eric Hui, CEO, Hong Kong.
Hong Kong: Well Link Group appoints new Chief Executive for acquired Direct Asia Insurance
Well Link Group Holdings Limited, a Hong Kong based company, has appointed Mr David Shi as the new Chief Executive of Direct Asia Insurance (Hong Kong) Limited [DAIHK], a company it had acquired from Direct Asia Insurance (Holdings) Pte Limited (a subsidiary of Hiscox Group).
Prior to joining DAIHK, Mr Shi has been with various major international insurance groups which have operations in the region. He has also served on the board of the Employees Compensation Insurance Residual Scheme Bureau Limited from 2014 to 2016.
New Head for SCOR Global Life Japan
SCOR has appointed Mr Yutaka Yamada as Head of SCOR Global Life Japan.
Mr Yamada will be responsible for leading the team in Japan and further enabling SCOR to support its clients through delivering solutions that meet their needs.
Prior to joining SCOR, Mr Yamada was Head of Business Development and a Member of the Executive Committee of Munich Re Life Branch in Japan.
Malaysia: Allied World names new country manager
Mr Ramesh Sivanathan has been appointed as VP for Allied World Asia-Pacific and will now act as the country manager in Malaysia.
Mr Sivanathan, who has nearly 30 years of industry experience, will be based in Kuala Lumpur. He previously held the role of Director of Business Development for Federal Insurance’s Labuan branch, and his most recent position was Asia RI Manager for Financial Lines at AIG Singapore.
Singapore: Chubb appoints Country President
Chubb has appointed Mr Adam Clifford as Country President for its general insurance business in Singapore. This role is in addition to his current responsibilities as Chubb’s Regional Head of Casualty for Asia Pacific.
In this expanded role, Mr Clifford will have the overall responsibility for the growth and financial results for the operations in Singapore across all lines of business ie Property & Casualty, Accident & Health and Personal Lines. He will report to Mr Paul McNamee, Deputy Regional President and Regional Head of Property & Casualty for Chubb in Asia Pacific.
Singapore: Manulife appoints new Head of Fixed Income
Manulife Asset Management has appointed Mr Murray Collis as Managing Director, Head of Fixed Income in Singapore. Mr Collis’ primary responsibilities are to formally lead all of the Singapore-based fixed income strategies and have oversight of a local team of portfolio managers and credit analysts.
He will also contribute to the pan-Asian fixed income team in the management of pan-Asian strategies such as the Asia Total Return and Asian Bond Absolute Return strategies.
Mr Collis has dual reporting lines to Mr Endre Pedersen, Chief Investment Officer, Fixed Income, Asia (ex-Japan) and Ms Wendy Lim, Chief Executive Officer, Manulife Asset Management (Singapore) Pte Ltd.
Singapore: Markel International appoints Energy Underwriter
Markel International (Singapore), the specialist insurer, has appointed Mr Timothy Foister as energy underwriter, based in Singapore. Mr Foster will report directly to Mr Matthew Cannock, Principal Officer & Managing Director of Markel International (Singapore).
Prior to his appointment at Markel, Mr Foister was an exploration and production underwriter based in Singapore managing an Asia Pacific E&P portfolio.
Singapore: HDI Global SE appoints new Claims Manager
Mr Pablo Diago has joined HDI Global SE’s branch office in Singapore as Claims Manager.
Prior to joining HDI, Mr Diago, who has 10 years of experience, was a forensic accountant at the Forensic Advisory Service in Singapore, Cunningham Lindsey’s specialist division in investigative accounting.
Global: ArgoGlobal reveals new Head of Marine
ArgoGlobal has appointed Mr Steve O’Gorman as Head of Marine. Mr O’Gorman brings more than three decades of marine insurance experience to ArgoGlobal. He joins from CNA Insurance where he served, most recently, as European Underwriting Director – Transport & Logistics.
Mr O’Gorman will be reporting to Mr Bruno Ritchie, Director of Underwriting & Active Underwriter. The former Head of Marine, Mr Philip Thorpe-Apps, will take on an expanded position as Global Head of Marine and Energy.
Global: Munich Re reveals new CEO of UK insurance arm
Munich Re has appointed the new CEO of its British subsidiary and digital group risk insurer Ellipse.
Munich Re executive Mr Lee Lovett will start in his new role as Ellipse CEO, replacing Mr John Ritchie.
He will lead the insurer into the next stage of its development as it aims to further grow from its established position in the UK employee benefits market.
Global: Endurance welcomes new CEO of US insurance
Mr Christopher Sparro has joined Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd as Executive VP and CEO of US Insurance. With more than 25 years of experience, Mr Sparro will be responsible for continuing to build the company’s US product portfolio.
Mr Sparro was most recently President of Financial Lines for the Americas Region at AIG. He will be based in New York City, reporting to Mr Jack Kuhn, CEOof Global Insurance.
Global: Schinnerer Group announces new CEO
Marsh has announced the appointment of Mr Christopher Schaper as CEO of its managing general agent (MGA) business, the Schinnerer Group.
In his role, Mr Schaper will focus on the development and advancement of Marsh’s existing MGA businesses in the US and Canada and oversee the development of its MGA business internationally. He will also be responsible for developing innovative risk solutions for clients that leverage emerging capacity from capital markets, working closely with teams across Marsh and Guy Carpenter.
Mr Schaper will be based in Hamilton, Bermuda and reports to Mr John Drzik, President of Global Risk and Specialties.
Global: AXA appoints new Chairman of Board of Directors and new CEO
Following Mr Henri de Castries’s decision to step down from the Board of Directors, AXA’s Board of Directors has appointed Mr Denis Duverne as non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors and appointed Mr Thomas Buberl as CEO of the Group and co-opted him as Director.
AXA also announced the composition of a new Partners group that will be the successor of the Group’s Executive Committee. The Partners group will be composed of the Group’s Management Committee members plus 30 other senior executives from across the Group. This new group will meet quarterly to review the development and implementation of key strategic initiatives in the context of Ambition 2020.
Global: Everest Re Group’s Zurich office names new Head of Casualty Underwriting
Mr Robert Schaetti will join the Zurich branch of Everest Re Group as Head of Casualty Underwriting.
Mr Schaetti joins Everest Re from Partner Re where he most recently served as Head of Liability and Medical Malpractice for Europe. He has more than 25 years industry experience with nearly 20 years working as a Casualty underwriter.
Global: Succession in Arig’s Group management team
Arab Insurance Group (Arig) has announced the retirement of Mr Andreas Weidlich, General Manager – Reinsurance, Mr Nagarajan Kannan, General Manager – Finance & Administration and Mr Salah Al Maraj, Assistant General Manager – Reinsurance effective 31 December 2016, all having attained the retirement age. They have been long-serving members with Arig and each has vastly contributed to its growth, prominence and professionalism.
As part of its planned succession, Arig appointed Mr Firas El Azem as the new General Manager – Reinsurance, Mr Samuel Verghese as Deputy General Manager – Finance & Administration and Mr Rachid Mechouet as Assistant General Manager – Reinsurance. All the appointments will take effect from 1 January 2017.
Mr El Azem brings over 25 years of experience in insurance and reinsurance and was most recently General Manager of Arig’s subsidiary, Takaful Re. Mr Verghese joined Arig in 1997 and has been heading the Finance Department since 2008 as Director. Mr Mechouet has more than 25 years of reinsurance experience and joined Arig in 2010 as Director – Claims & Technical Accounts.
Global: XL Catlin announces new VP of Emerging Markets
XL Catlin has named Ms Lauren Tennant Pollock as VP, Emerging Markets, based in New York.
She will work with XL Catlin’s Emerging Markets team providing reinsurance and insurance to developing regions across the world. She will also be involved in innovation projects, working closely with Sarah Street, executive vice president, Strategy and Innovation Initiatives.
Prior to joining Argo, she worked at Guy Carpenter in treaty brokerage.