Zurich Financial Services Australia has appointed David Wainwright as its new chief risk officer for Australia and New Zealand, effective Jan. 6, 2025.
Wainwright brings nearly 25 years of experience in financial services, having served most recently as chief risk officer for Zurich’s life insurance division in the UK.
His background includes leadership roles in risk management at institutions such as Nomura Securities, Halifax Bank of Scotland, HSBC Global Banking and Markets, and Zurich UK.
Wainwright will succeed Jaimie Sach, who is retiring after leading Zurich’s risk management since 2019 and concluding a career spanning over three decades in the wealth management sector.
Justin Delaney, CEO of Zurich Australia, said Wainwright’s global experience will be valuable as the company navigates an evolving risk landscape.
“Mr Wainwright brings a strong breadth of global experience to this role, paired with an impressive technical and leadership capability,” he said.
Wainwright will relocate to Sydney and report to Sid Medappa, Zurich’s regional head of risk for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.
“We look forward to welcoming him to Zurich’s local leadership team in the new year,” Delaney said.
“I am delighted and honoured to be joining the Zurich team in Australia and look forward to further evolving the team’s strong risk management capability,” Wainwright said.
In related news, Zurich Insurance Group has reported positive financial results for the first half of 2024, driven by gains across multiple business segments.
The group’s business operating profit (BOP) rose to US$3.99 billion, up from US$3.72 billion in the same period of 2023.
The life insurance division was a significant contributor, delivering a record BOP of US$1.05 billion, compared to US$939 million in the previous year. Farmers Insurance also posted growth, with BOP increasing to US$1.12 billion from US$993 million in 2023.
Meanwhile, the property and casualty (P&C) segment saw its BOP decline by 1% in US dollar terms but grew by 3% in local currencies. The group cited a higher combined ratio, which rose by 0.7 percentage points to 93.6%, largely due to catastrophe-related claims.
Despite these challenges, the company achieved strong rate increases and maintained customer retention across its retail and small-to-medium enterprise (SME) P&C lines, which helped mitigate the impact of severe weather events.
The group’s net income attributable to shareholders grew to US$3.03 billion, up from US$2.49 billion during the first half of 2023. It attributed this increase to higher insurance revenue and solid investment performance.
