Swiss Re splits reinsurance division and Group CUO responsibilities

Global reinsurer Swiss Re has announced a significant restructuring of its reinsurance division, splitting it into property and casualty and life and health reinsurance, that appears partly driven by the recent departure of its Group Chief Underwriting Officer.

Swiss Re’s Reinsurance division will from April 3rd, be split into Property & Casualty Reinsurance (P&C Re) and Life & Health Reinsurance (L&H Re), as the company says it moves to “streamline its organisational structure.”

With the move, Swiss Re says it can “simplify structures, improve efficiency and client experience,” while also giving the P&C and Life and Health reinsurance sides their own control over underwriting and claims management processes.

The move also results in a leadership reshuffle at Swiss Re, with Urs Baertschi, currently the Chief Executive Officer of Reinsurance EMEA, set to lead P&C Re, while Paul Murray, currently the CEO of Reinsurance Asia Pacific, set to lead L&H Re.

An additional senior move will see the current Reinsurance CEO Moses Ojeisekhoba taking over leadership of Swiss Re’s Global Clients and Solutions business unit.

This is a new business unit, formed to house the client management teams servicing Swiss Re’s global reinsurance clients, Public Sector Solutions, iptiQ and Reinsurance Solutions.

With this move, Swiss Re no longer has a need to replace its Group Chief Underwriting Officer.

As we reported last week, Thierry Léger left that position and has become the new CEO of rival reinsurer SCOR.

As a result of the splitting reinsurance into two new business units, the responsibilities of Group CUO will be reallocated to the CUOs of P&C Re and L&H Re, as well as to Group Risk Management, which Swiss Re says will “continue the Group’s focus on underwriting excellence.”

Another change is that the Regional President role in reinsurance will no longer exist under the new structure, so these roles will be reallocated, the reinsurer said.

Swiss Re won’t change its financial reporting with this change, having already broken out the property and casualty reinsurance results, from the life and health reinsurance results.

Group CEO Christian Mumenthaler commented on the news, “The planned changes will emphasise performance accountabilities and bring clear efficiencies. The simpler set-up with shorter decision paths will also result in enhanced client focus.”