Swiss Re group CUO Schmid steps down, moves to advisory role

Global reinsurer Swiss Re’s group chief underwriting officer Edi Schmid has decided to step down from his role and the group executive committee citing "personal reasons". He will take on an advisory role.

Schmid has been the group CUO and member of the group executive committee since July 2017. He joined Swiss Re in 1991 and has since held a number of key roles, including head property & specialty reinsurance, head property & casualty risk and actuarial management, and chief risk officer corporate solutions.

Thierry Léger will take over as new group CUO starting September 2020.

Léger has been leading the life capital business unit, which combines Swiss Re’s ReAssure, elipsLife and iptiQ businesses, since its creation in January 2016. He joined Swiss Re as an engineering underwriter in P&C in 1997, before moving to Swiss Re New Markets in 2001, providing non-traditional solutions to insurance clients. Between 2003 and 2005 he was a member of the executive team in France. Post that he assumed increasing responsibility for Swiss Re’s largest clients, developing risk and capital solutions, and ultimately becoming the head of the globals division in 2010 and a member of the then existing group management board. In 2013, he assumed the role of the head of life & health products reinsurance.

Swiss Re said following the completion of the sale of ReAssure to Phoenix Group Holdings, which is expected for the third quarter of 2020, the life capital business unit will be disbanded. This process is expected to be concluded by the end of December 2020. Effective 1 September 2020, the CEO life capital will no longer be a member of the group executive committee.

Subject to regulatory approvals, elipsLife, which provides life and health insurance solutions and services for corporate clients, will move to Corporate Solutions at the end of September 2020. Swiss Re’s white-labelling digital insurance platform iptiQ will become a standalone division reporting to the group CEO, effective 1 January 2021. Swiss Re continues to assess the further streamlining of the legal entity structure of the Group.

Swiss Re’s group CEO Christian Mumenthaler said: “The changes announced today will position Swiss Re well for the next chapter of the Group’s strategic development. Having grown dynamically over the past years, iptiQ is on track to becoming a leading player in its field. And being part of Corporate Solutions will open further growth opportunities for elipsLife. In underwriting, we will continue to evolve our capabilities through cutting-edge research, access to more and better data and advanced analytics."

Swiss Re’s chairman Walter Kielholz added: “On behalf of the Board of Directors I would like to thank Edi Schmid for his dedication and an enormous contribution to Swiss Re over nearly three decades. We are grateful that he will continue to share his expertise and knowledge with the Group in an advisory capacity.

"We are also pleased that Thierry Léger has accepted this new challenge after achieving many milestones during his time at the Life Capital Business Unit. His expertise in underwriting, technology, data and innovative solutions will be a big asset in furthering the development of Swiss Re’s leading position in underwriting."