Swiss Re Promotes Michel Lies to Be CEO After Lippe’s Early Retirement
Swiss Re CEO Designate Michel M. Lies
Swiss Re via Bloomberg
Swiss Re CEO Designate Michel M. Lies.
Swiss Re CEO Designate Michel M. Lies. Source: Swiss Re via Bloomberg
Swiss Re Ltd. (SREN), the world’s second- biggest reinsurer, promoted Michel Lies to succeed Stefan Lippe as chief executive officer from next month.
Lies is the company’s chairman of global partnerships, which manages relationships with governments and state entities. He has “tremendous insights into the growth area of emerging markets, one of our main strategic pillars,” Zurich-based Swiss Re said today on its website.
Swiss Re said in December that Lippe, 56, decided to retire early after restoring the company to profit and repaying a loan from Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Martin Schwab, a Zurich-based analyst with Bank Sarasin & Cie., was among analysts who predicted Lippe would be replaced by Christian Mumenthaler, who heads the company’s reinsurance operations.
“They like people who have made their career inside the organization,” Schwab said by phone. “The best news is that Mumenthaler, who is seen in the market as knowing the reinsurance business, stays in his position.”
Mumenthaler was named reinsurance chief in October after the company formed a new holding company that overarches its reinsurance operations, which accounts for about 80 percent of Swiss Re’s business.
“The CEO does not have the same influence on the operations side anymore,” said Schwab.
‘Healthy State’
Swiss Re shares rose 1.4 percent to 50.25 francs at 9:47 a.m. in Zurich, outpacing the 0.9 percent gain by the insurance index in the Stoxx 600, a pan-European benchmark.
Lies, a citizen of Luxembourg, was born in 1954 and has worked for Swiss Re for 30 years. He was previously in charge of all client relationships, and has been part of the executive committee since 2005. He headed the company’s European and Latin American units prior to that.
“The company is in a healthy state after the successful turnaround,” Lies said in today’s statement. “I will ensure that we continue to leverage our exceptional underwriting capacity.”
Swiss Re also said today that Moses Ojeisekhoba will join from Chubb Corp. as chief of Asian reinsurance from March 15, reporting to Mumenthaler. He will also become regional president, representing Swiss Re in Asia and join the group executive committee, the company said.
Lippe was appointed CEO in 2009 after $8 billion of securities-trading losses prompted Jacques Aigrain’s ouster. Under his leadership, the company refocused on underwriting and regained its AA credit rating with Standard & Poor’s. Lippe had been with the company for almost three decades.
In November, Swiss Re reported third-quarter net income more than doubled to $1.35 billion amid fewer natural-disaster claims, higher property-and-casualty premiums and gains on its bond holdings.
To contact the reporters on this story: Carolyn Bandel in Zurich at cbandel@bloomberg.net; Thomas Mulier in Geneva at tmulier@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at fconnelly@bloomberg.net
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