Top Credit Suisse, UBS executives to join Swiss Re in leadership transition

Zurich-based global reinsurer Swiss Re has revealed its leadership transition plan, which includes the election of top industry executives such as the CEO of UBS and former chief risk officer of Credit Suisse, at its upcoming Annual General Meeting of shareholders in April.

Swiss Re’s board of directors has nominated Sergio Ermotti, Joachim Oechslin and Deanna Ong for election as new, non-executive and independent members of the board for a one-year term of office.

Ermotti, who has been the group CEO of UBS since 2011, will be nominated for election at the AGM on April 17. Ermotti will succeed Walter Kielholz as chairman of the board in 2021.

Before joining UBS, Ermotti was group deputy chief executive officer at UniCredit and responsible for the business areas of corporate and investment banking, and private banking between 2007 and 2010. He started his professional career at Merrill Lynch in 1987, where he held various positions in the areas of equity derivatives and capital markets before he became co-head of Global Equity Markets and a member of the executive management committee for Global Markets & Investment Banking in 2001.

Oechslin was group chief risk officer (CRO) and a member of the group executive board of Credit Suisse Group from 2014 to February 2019 and is currently a senior advisor at Credit Suisse. Previously, he was CRO and a member of the group committee of Munich Re Group (2007–2013), deputy CRO of AXA Group (2007), group CRO of Winterthur Group (2003–2006) and CRO of Winterthur Life & Pensions (2001–2003). Prior to joining Winterthur Group, Oechslin was a consultant at McKinsey & Company, specialising in the financial services sector.

Ong has been chief people officer and a member of the group executive committee at GIC, a sovereign wealth fund established by the Government of Singapore, since 2017. For the past two years, she has also been a board member and chairwoman of the audit committee of Swiss Re’s main reinsurance carrier for the Asia region. Ong joined GIC in 1994 and held various finance roles covering public and private market assets until 2009. From 2009 to 2014, she was director finance, responsible for financial management across GIC’s portfolio. In 2012 she also took on responsibility for human resources & organisation and corporate governance. Prior to joining GIC, she was a tax accountant with Arthur Andersen.

Additionally, Swiss Re's board will also propose the re-election of these members for a one-year period - Walter Kielholz (as chairman of the Board of Directors), Raymond K.F. Ch’ien, Renato Fassbind, Karen Gavan, Jay Ralph, Joerg Reinhardt, Philip K. Ryan, Sir Paul Tucker, Jacques de Vaucleroy, Susan L. Wagner, and Larry Zimpleman.

Trevor Manuel and Eileen Rominger will not stand for re-election at the upcoming AGM. They will continue to closely work with Swiss Re, with Trevor Manuel joining the Swiss Re Strategic Council and Eileen Rominger joining Swiss Re’s most important regional board in the US.

Swiss Re’s chairman Kielholz, said: “On behalf of my colleagues, I would like to thank Trevor Manuel and Eileen Rominger for their great dedication and valuable contribution to Swiss Re’s main Board over the past years. We look forward to continuing to work with them in their new roles. We are also very pleased to propose the election of Sergio P. Ermotti, Joachim Oechslin and Deanna Ong, who will further expand the international experience and financial industry expertise of the Board."

He added: His [Ermotti's] wealth of experience and impressive leadership track record will be important assets for Swiss Re, and his appointment will ensure a smooth leadership transition."