The chief financial officer of Swiss Life will step down next year. The chief risk officer will take over.

Thomas Buess, 61, will resign from his position as chief financial officer as of March 1, 2019, Swiss Life said in a statement on Tuesday. He took the decision because he doesn’t want to work as an executive manager any longer, the company added.

Swiss Life didn’t say whether Buess will stay at the company where he’s been active at for the past decade. He took over responsibility for the company’s finances at the height of the financial crisis in 2009. Last year, when CEO Patrick Frost underwent treatment against cancer, Buess was acting CEO in his stead.

Internal Succession

Swiss Life appointed Matthias Aellig, 47, as its new CFO. Aellig has been the company’s chief risk officer since 2010 and as such was part of the executive committee of the life insurer.

«The nomination of Matthias Aellig is an ideal succession solution for us,» said Frost in the statement. «As chief risk officer, he has been involved in all of the key issues facing the corporate executive board.»

First-Half Profit Above Expectations

The Swiss life insurer in the first half exceeded expectations. Swiss Life had a net profit of 561 million Swiss francs ($566 million), up 7 percent from a year ago. Fee income increased 10 percent to 798 million francs and premiums rose 4 percent to 10.7 billion.

In Switzerland, the company’s home market, premiums added 3 percent to 6.1 billion francs. Swiss Life in recent months had put on the brakes in the pension provision business. In the first half of 2018, Swiss Life posted a lower adjusted return on equity of 9.7 percent, down from 10.5 percent a year earlier.