Zurich has announced that it plans to strengthen its UK underwriting team with a string of new leadership hires, including the appointment of Chubb’s Antony Statham as Head of Regional Financial Lines, and QBE’s Paul Mundy as Regional Underwriter Leader for the North.
The new appointments represent part of Zurich’s strategy to become a simpler, more streamlined, and customer-focused organisation, and will be supplemented by the establishment of a number of underwriting centres of excellence across the UK.
Specifically, Zurich will strengthen its UK operations with a new small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) underwriting team in Leeds, a new centralised team in Birmingham, and by making Croydon its hub for business written through schemes.
Statham and Mundy will both operate out of Manchester, with Statham leading Zurich’s Financial Lines strategy across Directors & Officers Liability, Professional Indemnity, Cyber Financial Institutions and Crime business, and Mundy ensuring underwriting decision are made swiftly and seamlessly.
Tulsi Naidu, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Zurich UK, commented: “We’ve had a positive start to the year, and I’d like to thank brokers and customers for their support. We have ambitious plans for growth from here, and to achieve this, we need to keep flexible, agile and have the right people in the right place.
“Our technical expertise is well-known, but making sure it’s well-balanced across the country means we will always be on-hand to help brokers and customers with their needs wherever they’re based. These new appointments in Manchester and our new team in Leeds reflect our growing capability across the country.”
Zurich has also appointed Justin Wood as leader of Retail and Mid-Market underwriting, Joachim Tolle as Head of Financial Institutions business, Adrian Jenner as Head of Directors & Officers (D&O), and James Robers as Head of Regional Markets.
The new underwriting team model, which is largely focused on the North of the UK, has been structured in line with Zurich’s commitment to allow its people to diversify their careers and transfer their skills.
