Asia: Argo Group hires new lead for Europe and Asia operations
Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd has appointed Mr Matt Harris as the new head of its Europe and Asia operations, effective immediately.
The new role will see Mr Harris report to Argo’s Head of International business, Mr Jose A. Hernandez, and he brings more than 25 years of insurance industry experience to the firm. He had previously worked for AIG, where he led South East Asia Country Operations.
Asia: Etiqa has a new Chief Strategy Officer
Etiqa has appointed Mr Chris Eng Poh Yoon as the new Chief Strategy Officer.
He reports directly to the CEO of Maybank Ageas Holding Berhad, Mr Kamaludin Ahmad, and is responsible for the development and execution of strategic initiatives to support Etiqa’s long-term growth. Mr Eng has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services and consulting industry.
Asia: Markel appoints Contract Frustration and Political Risk Underwriter
Markel International has appointed Mr Alex Holcroft as political risk underwriter, based in Singapore. He joins the existing trade credit and political risk team serving the Asia Pacific region and will report to Ms Nicola Marriage, senior underwriter in London.
He joins a team of four in Singapore led by Mr Abhishek Chhajer, senior underwriter, who established Markel’s trade credit business in the Asia Pacific region in 2011.
Asia: Beazley adds financial lines regional manager
Leading specialist insurer Beazley has appointed Mr Nicholas Tey as financial lines regional manager for Asia.
Based in Singapore, Mr Tey will be responsible for the development of Beazley’s specialty business across Asia. He joins Beazley from Chubb, where he was head of financial lines in Singapore.
Asia: Great American Insurance Company announces key hires
Great American Insurance Group announced that the Singapore Branch of its flagship insurer, Great American Insurance Company, has hired Mr Larry Kwok, Ms Linda Tan and Mr Donovan Lam.
Mr Kwok will serve as appointed Director, Marine (North Asia Market). He will be responsible for the strategic management of marine underwriting and portfolio management within the North Asia market.
Ms Tan will serve as appointed Director, Marine. She will be responsible for the strategic management of marine underwriting and portfolio management within Asia.
Mr Lam will serve as appointed Senior Manager, marine and Casualty Claims. He will oversee the claims management of all marine and casualty classes of business to drive best practices and deliver superior claims service to clients.
Asia: Guy Carpenter names Asia Pacific head
Guy Carpenter has promoted Mr Tony Gallagher to chief executive of their Asia Pacific business. He was previously the company’s CEO of the Pacific region. Mr Gallagher will be based in Hong Kong and will report to president of international business Mr James Nash.
In addition, Mr Richard Jones has been named the broker’s new chairman of the Asia Pacific region. Mr Jones is based in Singapore and will continue in his current role as head of Singapore in addition to his new responsibilities.
Asia: FM Global names new positions
FM Global has appointed Mr Stefano Tranquillo as senior vice president, division manager, EMEA/Asia Pacific. He will be based at the Luxembourg office. Previously, he was senior vice president, division manager, Asia-Pacific, based in Singapore.
Mr David M Johnson has been appointed vice president, regional manager, Asia. Based at FM Global’s Singapore office, he will be responsible for helping grow business in the Asia Pacific. He will also be the local liaison for FM Global’s new major loss prevention training and operations centre in Singapore, which is slated to open in early 2019.
Prior to his appointment, Mr Johnson was operations vice president, area manager in Asia overseeing FM Global’s client service delivery.
Asia: Willis Towers Watson strengthens Asia Financial Services capabilities
Willis Towers Watson has strengthened its financial services capabilities with the appointment of Mr Fabien Conderanne as Deputy Head of Financial Solutions, Asia Pacific.
Based in Singapore, Mr Conderanne began his new role on 1 August 2017. The role is a new position reflecting the expansion of the business in Asia Pacific. He reports to Mr Stuart Ashworth, Managing Director, Financial Solutions, Asia Pacific at Willis Towers Watson.
Prior to joining Willis Towers Watson, he worked for Coface Singapore as CEO.
Asia: Milliman expands senior team
Mr Shoaib Javed Hussain has joined Milliman’s expanding team in the region as Consulting Actuary. Based in Hong Kong, Mr Shoaib will develop and deliver consulting services to their clients across Asia in areas such as risk and capital management, stress testing and scenario planning and balance sheet optimisation. Prior to this role, he was working for Prudential plc in its Group Risk and Capital function.
Mr Clement Bonnet has been promoted to Principal. Mr Bonnet joined Milliman Hong Kong from its Paris office in 2012. He will continue to support clients across the region, specialising in risk and capital, M&A, strategy, ALM and financial modelling. He is also coordinating IFRS 17 activity in the region.
Australia: Allianz appoints new General Manager for Workers Compensation
Allianz has appointed Mr Adam Lloyd to General Manager Underwritten Workers Compensation and Distribution.
Mr Lloyd will move from his existing role in Allianz Underwritten Workers Compensation to succeed Mr Michael Taig who will retire from the position after 17 years.
In his new role, Mr Lloyd will be responsible for Allianz’s privately underwritten workers compensation business, which encompasses the ACT, Northern Territory, Tasmania, Western Australia, Seafarers and also Excess Workers. In addition, he has responsibility for underwritten workers compensation distribution and major client strategic management.
Australia: IAG appoints new Chief Digital Officer
IAG has appointed digital product and innovation leader Mr Mark Drasutis as Chief Digital Officer (CDO) to lead its digital strategy and experience team.
Mr Drasutis will have a key leadership role within IAG’s Customer Labs to help build an organisation that is customer-led and data-driven across IAG and its brands including NRMA Insurance, CGU, SGIO, SGIC and WFI in Australia, as well as NZI and AMI in New Zealand.
He will join the IAG Customer Labs team in mid-October 2017 reporting to Chief Customer Officer Ms Julie Batch.
Australia: Chubb strengthens Accident & Health Brokerage
Chubb has appointed Mr Andrew Syddall as Underwriting Manager for its Accident & Health (A&H) Brokerage portfolio for Australia and New Zealand.
As part of his new role, Mr Syddall will use his technical knowledge and extensive portfolio management expertise to drive growth for the A&H brokerage business. Based in Melbourne, he will also apply his considerable experience to nurture and develop the A&H team within Chubb’s National Underwriting Centre.
Australia: Honan Insurance Group announces new appointments
Honan Insurance Group has made a number of changes to the structure of its leadership team. This includes the addition of a technology division which will sit under the guidance of Mr Nathaniel Barrs, the new Group Chief Technology Officer.
Mr Andrew Fluitsma is the new Group Managing Director and Chief Broking Officer. He will now have responsibility for six distinct sales and service business units including Global and Corporate, Strata and Real Estate, Partnerships, Risk Consulting, Risk Smart and Employee Benefits.
Mr Brad Tymmons has been named as the new Group COO. He will manage a number of departments including Finance, Legal, HR, Marketing, Compliance, Business Planning and Administration.
Australia: HDI bolsters claims team
Mr David Lloyd will take up the role of Regional Claims Manager, ASEAN and Australasia, based in Sydney. Mr Lloyd has over 30 years’ claims experience, both in the Australian and London markets.
Mr Kevin Sullivan has joined HDI as Claims Manager, based in Sydney. Mr Sullivan has over 25 years’ claims experience, also in both the Australian and London markets.
Australia: McLarens has new Head for Global Marine division
Global loss adjuster McLarens has promoted Mr John Cupitt to Head of its Global Marine division. Based in Brisbane, Mr Cupitt will oversee the strategic growth of the global marine specialty team.
He has over 30 years’ experience and has a background in risk management consultancy, marine surveying and adjusting for cargoes, including loss prevention and consultancy.
China: DLA Piper appoints new corporate partner
DLA Piper has appointed Mr James Chang as a corporate partner in Beijing.
Mr Chang has wealth of experience with public and private cross-border M&A, leveraged buyouts, private equity transactions, and general corporate governance and securities law matters.
His practice involves a wide range of sectors including technology, media, telecommunications, healthcare, pharmaceutical, energy and manufacturing.
Hong Kong: Manulife names new CFO
Manulife Hong Kong has announced the appointment of Mr Rockson Leung as its CFO. In his new role, Mr Leung reports to Mr Guy Mills, CEO, Manulife Hong Kong, and Mr Nigel Ke, Interim CFO, Manulife Asia.
He oversees the financial functions of Manulife’s operations in Hong Kong and also leads the office-support functions and plays an active part in the overall strategy and direction of Manulife Hong Kong.
South Korea: BNP Paribas Cardif appoints new CEO
BNP Paribas Cardif Life Insurance in South Korea announced the appointment of Mr Benoit Meslet as the company’s new representative director and CEO, succeeding former head Mr Jean-Christophe Darbes.
Mr Meslet has more than 15 years of experience in the financial services and insurance industries, including an extensive background in product development across Asia, the firm said in a press release. He was previously Chief Transformation & Strategy Officer at NN Life in Japan.
QBE appoints new Malaysia CEO
QBE has named Mr Chris Kurinsky as CEO, QBE Insurance (Malaysia) Berhad.
In this role, Mr Kurinsky will be responsible for QBE’s business across Malaysia. He will continue to drive the profitable growth in the country and increase the company’s share in specialty, commercial, SME, and personal lines of business through strategic initiatives and partnerships.
Prior to joining QBE, Mr Kurinsky was Head of Sales and Direct Marketing, Consumer Lines, for Chubb Insurance China.
Malaysia: Hong Leong Assurance unveils new COO
Hong Leong Assurance (HLA) has announced Mr Loke Kah Meng as its new COO.
Mr Loke’s role is to drive and execute strategies that are instrumental to HLA’s continuous desire to create and accentuate the key factors to enhance Business Value Creation. In addition, he will lead the Bancassurance, Alternative Channels, Strategic Marketing and Product Development departments. Mr Loke has a wealth of experience having worked for over 30 years in the industry.
Malaysia: PIDM announces appointment of new CEO
Perbadanan Insurans Deposit Malaysia (PIDM) has appointed Mr Rafiz Azuan Abdullah as its CEO. Mr Rafiz will succeed Mr Jean Pierre Sabourin, the founding CEO, who retired on 27 August 2017 after 12 years of exemplary service.
He has served PIDM since 2007 and is currently the Executive General Manager. On the international front, Mr Rafiz is a member of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Deposit Insurers (IADI). He is also the Chairman of IADI’s Islamic Deposit Insurance Group which focuses on the development of core principles for effective Islamic deposit insurance systems.
Singapore: GIA appoints new Chief Executive
Mr Ho Kai Weng has been appointed the Chief Executive of the General Insurance Association of Singapore (GIA).
Mr Ho joined the Association in April 2016 and was most recently the COO. He takes over the leadership from Mr Derek Teo, who stepped down on 15 August.
Singapore: AXA Insurance appoints new CEO in Singapore
AXA Insurance has appointed Mr Jean Drouffe as its new CEO, effective from 25 July 2017. He will be taking over from Mrs Doina Palici-Chehab, who has been promoted to Interim Regional CEO of AXA Asia. Mr Drouffe reports to Mrs Palici-Chehab.
Mr Drouffe has been part of the AXA family for 17 years. He first joined AXA Group in 2000 where he was instrumental in launching the AXA Group Risk Management practice through various roles in the Economic Capital project.
Global: Inga Beale elected as new CII President
Dame Inga Beale has been elected the 121st president of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) at the professional body’s Annual General Meeting.
Dame Inga Beale is the first female chief executive officer at Lloyd’s – the world’s specialist insurance market. She succeeds Mr John Moore, Chairman at Thomas Carroll Group. CII members also voted Mr Jonathan Clark as CII deputy president. A