Zurich Insurance’s new CEO Mario Greco took the firm’s helm just last month, and now he is initiating a reorganization at the Swiss insurer after a huge amount of claims last year led to a cancellation of a takeover and the departure of the former CEO.
Zurich’s global life and general insurance lines are being merged, and reorganized by region. The regional heads for Europe, the Middle East and Africa; North America, Latin America, and Asia Pacific will all report directly to Greco, while the global corporate division will remain separate.
“This structure is more efficient than the previous one,” Greco said in a conference call with reporters. “There will be a contribution to cost savings, but we need to quantify that precisely and we’re not ready to do that today.”
Greco was hired at Zurich after three years at the head of Italy’s
Generali Group. Martin Senn, Greco’s predecessor at Zurich, left in 2015 after the takeover of British insurer RSA failed due to an unexpected rise in general insurance claims.
Zurich also appointed Kristof Terryn to the new role of chief operating officer. Terryn previously headed the general insurance division. Robert Dickie, chief operations and technology officer, will depart the company after a transition period of a few months.
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