Allianz poaches its new global cyber head from rival AXA

Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) has appointed a new global head of cyber.

Scott Sayce will join AGCS in September 2021 in a dual leadership role for AGCS’s cyber underwriting business and the Cyber Center of Competence for Allianz Group.

He will steer AGCS’s cyber underwriting business, reporting to Shanil Williams, Global Head of Financial Lines, and will also lead the group-wide Cyber Center of Competence of Allianz which is embedded into AGCS.

He will succeed Dr. Catharina Richter, current Global Head of Cyber Center of Competence for AGCS and Allianz Group, who will move to a new role within Allianz Group, which will be confirmed in due course.

Sayce joins AGCS from AXA, where he has held a variety of increasingly senior leadership roles after joining in 2017. He started out as global chief underwriting officer cyber within AXA’s corporate solutions division, while also being group chief underwriting officer for Cyber.

In 2018 he became Group Head of Cyber, and subsequently, Group Head of Financial Lines and Cyber. Before his time at AXA, Sayce was the Head of the Cyber, Technology and Life Science divisions for CNA Hardy. He started his career as a Lloyd’s insurance broker before moving to underwriting to focus on cyber and technology risks, a field in which he now has almost 20 years’ experience.

Tony Buckle, AGCS’s Chief Underwriting Officer Corporate, said: “A huge thank you to Catharina Richter for her leadership of the Cyber Center of Competence and her contribution to the further evolution of our cyber underwriting approach and product offering. A warm welcome also to Scott Sayce – he is a leading expert in the field of cyber underwriting, with significant global experience and he will help drive this key part of our business forward for AGCS and for the wider Allianz Group.”

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