Allianz Group is making global changes in commercial business

Clients and partners should expect a “more consistent underwriting approach”, with coordination on a global scale, the insurer said.

“Allianz Commercial enables us to deliver the full value of Allianz’s scale and full range of capabilities for the benefit of our customers, brokers and shareholders,” said Chris Townsend, member of the Allianz SE board of management.

Allianz Commercial will feature a single lead in each country or region to represent its commercial businesses, a move it says is intended to simplify the experience of clients and distribution partners.

Its trading, underwriting, and customer service teams are expected to “work closely together” under the model, according to the press release. The legal entities that conduct the insurance business and their leadership are expected to remain the same, Allianz said.

Restructuring its leadership and management team

ACGS added two new members to its board of management while also updating the responsibilities of existing members.

Joachim Mueller will now lead the Allianz Commercial business as part of his role as CEO of AGCS SE, reporting to Townsend.

Jon-Paul Jones will take on the role of chief operating officer of AGCS, pending regulatory approval, replacing Betting Dietsche, who has moved to Allianz SE as chief people and culture officer. Additionally, since February 1, Dirk Vogler has been working as the midcorp change officer.

Jones will oversee global business operations, IT, protection and resilience, corporate service transformation, global process management, global data office and major IT transformation projects.

Vogler oversees the program office, which was also created to support the new collaborative model between AGCS and the mid corporate business of the national Allianz OEs.

Other notable transitions

Apart from these two appointments, various changes in responsibility for the current Board Members of AGCS SE have taken effect:

• The specialty of chief underwriting officer, Renate Strasser, will move to a newly created role by the board of AGCS SE as chief technical officer, overseeing all global functions focusing on technical excellence in underwriting, pricing, portfolio management , risk and reinsurance consulting, as well as ESG /climate solutions.
• Shanil Williams will now take on greater responsibility for all nine AGCS global business lines, both corporate and specialty, as chief underwriting officer.
• Claire-Marie Coste-Lepoutre will lead compliance, human resources and the ‘NEW AGCS’ transformation program office. He is also the new deputy CEO on the AGCS SE board, replacing Mueller.
• Alongside his role as CEO of AGCS SE, Mueller will also assume responsibility for the business in the United Kingdom, France and Australia. Each country has large Allianz MidCorp portfolios and major components of the AGCS/OE integrated commercial partnership.
• Other countries or regions will continue to report to either Henning Haagen, chief region and market officer 1, or Tracy Ryan, newly appointed as chief region and, market officer 2.

“I welcome Dirk and Jon-Paul to AGCS as new members to the AGCS SE Board of Management, in addition to Tracy Ryan whose appointment we announced a few days ago” said Mueller. “With these new additions and a new allocation of responsibilities for several existing board members, we, as a leadership team, are ready to open the next chapter in AGCS’s corporate history: the realization of the new collaborative model of Allianz Commercial.”