Zurich private clients head joins Munich Re-backed MGA UK General

Former Zurich executive Matthew Schofield has joined the senior management team of UK General Insurance as chief commercial officer, reporting to CEO Karen Beales.

Schofield was previously the head of private clients at Zurich. Before that, he spent over a decade in Zurich’s construction division as business manager between 1998-2006, and corporate construction manager from 2007-2010.

Schofield is the latest senior addition to UK General since its acquisition by JC Flowers, following Jane Bean’s recruitment as chief risk officer, and the appointment of John Spencer as chairman.

"We are delighted to secure someone of Matthew’s calibre and experience for this important new role," Beales said. "His last role saw him running the P&L for multi-million pound business divisions at Zurich – in both HNW and construction – and his profile is exactly what we are looking for as we build our virtual insurer model at UK General."

Beales explained that in 2010, UK General was an early exponent of the ‘hybrid’ MGA model, combining a low cost operating model with disciplined pricing and underwriting. "Now we are well-placed to move the model on to the next iteration, from hybrid MGA to virtual insurer."

"A virtual insurer has all the capabilities and the functional disciplines of an insurer, such as actuarial capability, regulatory and governance, product design, and reserving. We now have all these components in place and our priority now is to complete the senior team and consolidate this virtual insurer model."

Schofield commented: "I was thrilled to be offered the opportunity to work alongside Karen and build the next generation of successful MGA. Despite challenging market conditions I am convinced that, with the support of our new owner JC Flowers, UK General will be one of the winners during the next five years, and I want to be a part of its success."

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