Allianz looks to AIG for new AGCS chief actuary

Allianz group's specialist corporate insurer Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) has strengthened its actuarial and pricing functions with two senior leadership appointments.

Maria Karina Suarez Rodriguez has joined as chief actuary for the global carrier. She succeeds Christian Kortebein, who has been appointed chief pricing actuary.

Suarez Rodriguez joins from AIG where she held several leadership roles, including the head of reserving for global specialty, the head of reserving for property and specialty for the UK and Europe, and the chief finance actuary overseeing 14 countries in the LatAm and Caribbean regions.

Before joining AIG, she was with La Caja Seguros/Generali in Argentina. Suarez Rodriguez has more than 20 years’ experience; she is an Affiliate of the Casualty Actuarial Society, a member of both the Spanish Actuarial Institute and the Professional Actuarial Council in Argentina.

Based in Munich, she will report to AGCS chief financial officer Claire-Marie Coste-Lepoutre.

As chief pricing actuary, Kortebein will be responsible for technical pricing across all AGCS lines of businesses, working closely with the corporate actuarial, underwriting and claims departments as well as portfolio management and risk management. He reports to the chief underwriting officer corporate Tony Buckle.

He first joined Allianz in 2003, acting as deputy group chief actuary before later joining Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company and Allianz France as chief actuary. He has been with AGCS since 2017 as chief actuary.

The company said that technical excellence in underwriting is one of the core building blocks of the new AGCS strategy and transformation journey, noting that actuarial modeling and technical pricing to support the underwriting process is key.

AGCS CFO Claire-Marie Coste-Lepoutre commented: “We are very happy to announce the arrival of Karina at AGCS and thank Christian very much for taking dual roles during the interim period. With her deep and truly global knowledge of the actuarial side of insurance, Karina will be a great fit for our Finance team. With our drive towards technical excellence, both Karina and Christian will be key contributors supported by their teams in our transformation journey.”