Allianz launches big shake up of board and new global model as it plans to scale up

Global re/insurer  Allianz is shuffling the pack at board level involving several senior figures moving to new leadership roles in line with its new global commercial strategy to drive profitable growth through better collaboration between its mid-corporate and large-corporate insurance businesses.

The new integrated commercial approach anticipates the increasing globalisation of risks, closes internal structural gaps in market reach, and extends Allianz’s product offering and delivery at the local level to meet a clear market need, management explained in a statement.

The idea is to offer clients and distribution partners “a consistent underwriting approach” and access to “harmonised” insurance solutions that are globally coordinated and locally delivered with one market interface, Allianz said.

The move is key to the Allianz Group’s strategy to expand its leadership position in property and casualty, to grow through scalable platforms, and drive agility in execution.

As part of the move, Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE (AGCS) has added two new members to its board of management and also changed the responsibilities of individual current board members.

Joachim Mueller will lead the integrated ‘Allianz Commercial’ business as part of his responsibilities as CEO of AGCS SE. He will also take responsibility for the business in the UK, France and Australia. These three countries have large Allianz MidCorp portfolios and are key parts of the integrated commercial AGCS/OE partnership.

Jon-Paul Jones has been appointed as new chief operating officer (COO) in the AGCS SE board Of management succeeding Bettina Dietsche who has already moved to Allianz SE as chief people and culture officer.

Additionally, Dirk Vogler has joined the AGCS SE board of management in a newly created role as chief midCorp transformation officer.

Furthermore, Renate Strasser, currently chief underwriting officer specialty, will move to a newly created AGCS SE board role as chief technical officer. She will oversee all global functions that focus on technical excellence in underwriting, pricing, portfolio management, risk consulting and reinsurance as well as ESG/Climate Solutions.

Shanil Williams will now take on expanded responsibility for all nine AGCS global lines of business, both Corporate and Specialty, as Chief Underwriting Officer.

Compliance, Human Resources and the ‘New AGCS’ transformation programme office will move from CEO Mueller to chief financial officer Claire-Marie Coste-Lepoutre. She will also take on the role of deputy CEO on the AGCS SE board, after Mueller.

Other countries or regions will continue to report to either Henning Haagen, chief regions & markets officer, or Tracy Ryan, newly appointed chief regions &, markets officer.

Commenting on the board realignments, Mueller said: “I welcome Dirk and Jon-Paul to AGCS as new members to AGCS SE Board of Management, in addition to Tracy Ryan whose appointment we announced a few days ago. With these new joiners and a new allocation of responsibilities for some current Board Members, we, as a leadership team, are ready to open the next chapter in AGCS’s corporate history: the realisation of the new collaborative model of Allianz Commercial.

“We will partner and collaborate closely with the Mid Corporate business of national Allianz entities based on a globally coordinated underwriting and distribution approach, which is locally delivered for our customers through one face to the market.”

“Allianz Commercial is the result of market feedback encouraging us to combine the best of AGCS with the best of local Allianz businesses to serve more clients around the world,” Mueller added. “The result will be simplicity, clarity and consistency for our customers, where we serve them with a wider range of products – from Allianz Multinational to climate solutions – in a seamless approach that preserves the trusted relationships and local know-how they value.”

Chris Townsend, member of the Allianz SE board of management, said: “Allianz Commercial allows us to deliver the full value of Allianz’s scale and full set of capabilities for the benefit of our customers, brokers and shareholders.

“The introduction of Allianz Commercial is a powerful and natural continuation of our existing multi-year strategy to scale and globalise the commercial segment.”

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