Aviva taps seasoned actuary as commercial lines chief underwriter
UK insurer Aviva has tapped an experienced general insurance pricing actuary from its talent pool to lead its commercial lines division as new chief underwriting officer.
Karen Dayal has been appointed as CUO of commercial lines. She will report to Jason Storah, UK and Ireland GI chief executive officer.
Mark Dunham, who temporarily filled the CUO commercial lines role, will return to his position as head of commercial lines underwriting.
In her new role, Dayal will develop Aviva’s underwriting strategy for commercial lines, ensuring alignment, governance and driving best practices across GCE and SME segments.
Dayal joined Aviva four years ago, most recently serving as director of exposure management, pricing and insight for commercial lines, a role she will continue to oversee. She also chairs the company’s commercial lines women’s network.
Dayal previously worked at XL Catlin for four years serving as pricing lead global marine, fine art and specie after joining as the pricing lead for casualty, financial lines and motor. Prior to that, she served as casualty group pricing at Catlin and the head of pricing global corporate for UK at Zurich Insurance Company.
The appointment comes after Aviva introduced four new roles to fuel its GCS growth plans in July 2023. This included underwriting director positions overseeing financial, specialty, multinational, and corporate lines. The previous CUO commercial lines role split into two: CUO commercial lines and underwriting director for corporate lines, with Marc Wanless appointed to the latter.
Storah said: “I’d like to congratulate Karen on her new role. She will be an exceptional addition to the GI ExCo and play an important role in accelerating us towards our ambitions. I believe this appointment demonstrates how important commercial lines is to our general insurance strategy in the UK and I look forward to the team continuing their great work.”
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