In a blow to Zurich Insurance CEO Mario Greco, a key ally and the architect of the insurer's new strategy has departed suddenly, finews.com can reveal. He was swiftly replaced by an executive from Italian insurer Generali.
Claudio Gienal spent eight years in various Zurich roles, including project management, operations and life insurance before CEO Mario Greco tapped him last April to lead a task force responsible for putting together the insurer's new strategy.
The fruits of the 40-person group's efforts were unveiled in November: the insurer will deepen cost cuts and lower profit targets, while maintaining regular shareholder payouts.
Now, Gienal has left the Zurich-based insurer abruptly mid-December, three sources familiar with the matter told finews.com. A spokesman for the insurer confirmed his departure. He will be replaced by Giovanni Giuliani, who joined Zurich from Milan-based Generali in September.
Setback for Greco
The departure of Gienal is a blow for Greco, who is trying to replicate at Zurich the turnaround he engineered as CEO of Generali. He has thus far slimmed Zurich's business by combining units and attempted to simplify a complicated matrix organization.
Gienal had expressed a desire to return to an operations or business role after the new strategy was rolled out, one of the people familiar with his departure said. He ultimately opted to take an undisclosed position outside of Zurich. Gienal, who ran Zurich's life insurance business in Switzerland for more than two years until he was tapped for the strategy post last April, didn't comment to finews.com.
His exit is the second high-profile departure under Greco in three months: marketing and communications head Andreas Hildenbrand left the insurer at the end of October, as finews.com reported exclusively.
