AXA XL names new leadership team, plans business reorgansation
AXA XL has named a new global leadership team that is responsible for developing a new operating model, designed around a single global insurance underwriting function and three geographical business units.
Charles Cooper, has been named as chief executive officer for reinsurance, with Nancy Bewlay as chief underwriter officer, Brent Hoffman as chief claims officer and Noel Richardson as chief risk officer.
The proposed changes affecting European entities will be subject to consultation with employee representative bodies. However, if the plan is approved the business will be divided into business units for the Americas, led by CEO Joseph Tocco; Eurasia, led by interim CEO Scott Gunter; and the UK and Lloyd’s market, led by interim CEO Sean McGovern, who is also general counsel.
The underwriting function will be led by a global chief underwriting officer, who will design the structure of the proposed new model and assume responsibility for underwriting governance, pricing and profit and loss. He would also oversee the management of the global heads of business lines to define and drive product strategy.
Rainer Schoellhammer has been named as chief finance officer, with Karen le Duc and Matthieu Caillat named as chief human resources officer and chief operating officer, respectively.
Scott Gunter, CEO at AXA XL, said the regional structure would speed up decision making, while the global functions would mean clients and brokers maintain the benefit of AXA XL’s global expertise and experience.
“AXA XL is the result of acquisitions and mergers and with our increased scale, now is the time to optimise our structure by striking the right balance between local and global decision making so we remain agile and flexible,” Gunter said.
“This Leadership Team is an international, highly experienced team of individuals: around half the team have a background at legacy XL Catlin, while the other half bring diverse and valuable experience from across the AXA Group,” he added.
