Life InsuranceDec 14 2015

Zurich’s Shaughnessy becomes global life CEO

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Zurich’s Shaughnessy becomes global life CEO

Zurich has named 49-year-old Gary Shaughnessy as chief executive of its Global Life business and a member of the group executive committee, effective 1 January.

He succeeds Kristof Terryn, who was appointed chief executive of general insurance on 1 October.

Mr Shaughnessy has been chief executive of Zurich UK Life since June 2012.

In 2014 he assumed the additional role of country head for Zurich in the UK, and he is currently interim chief executive of Global Life for Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Zurich’s interim chief executive Tom de Swaan called him a great leader with a wealth of industry experience, while the appointment “demonstrates the strength of our internal talent pipeline”.

Prior to joining the provider, Mr Shaughnessy was the managing director for Fidelity Worldwide Investment’s UK defined contribution and retail business.

His previous experience includes nearly a decade in senior roles within the Prudential Group, including the role of UK managing director, retail life and pensions and chief executive of UK retail at M&G investments.

Mr Shaughnessy’s background is in marketing and distribution, with previous roles spanning the broad financial services market at Axa, the Automobile Association and the Bank of Scotland.

He is a member of the board of the Association of British Insurers and is the chairperson of the ABI protection committee.

Mr Shaughnessy’s promotion comes just days after Zurich launched a non-advised drawdown proposition, which it said will give greater flexibility to workplace customers who want to take advantage of the pension freedoms but don’t want to take advice.

Zurich said more than 200,000 of its workplace members will benefit from the new option which is being rolled out to schemes this month.

emma.hughes@ft.com