Chief underwriting officer to make Argo departure

Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd.’s chief underwriting officer, Axel Schmidt, is leaving the Bermuda-headquartered insurer for undisclosed reasons.

Schmidt, who joined the insurance group in 2014, is stepping down from the CUO role but will remain in an advisory capacity to chief executive Kevin J. Rehnberg until the end of the year as part of the transition. The departing colleague’s employment agreement with Argo will continue to be in effect during this time.

Prior to coming onboard, Schmidt was chief underwriting officer at Aviva’s UK & Ireland business across personal, commercial, and corporate/specialty lines. Before then he spent two decades in international business at Zurich Insurance Group.

Replacing Schmidt as CUO is Tim Carter, who was executive vice president, Americas of Argo Group US, Inc.