Chartis unveils new European structure

Chartis today announced its new structure for the European Economic Area (EEA) countries and Switzerland.

The new region will be headquartered in London, and will include the following European domiciled insurance companies; Chartis Insurance UK Limited, Chartis Insurance Ireland Limited and Chartis Europe SA.

As part of this reorganisation, Lex Baugh will also be named CEO of Chartis Europe SA, in replacement of Julio Portalatin, who has been named president and chief executive of the Emerging Markets Division of Chartis International.

Baugh said, “I’m pleased to say that we have completed the internal consultation process and we can now progress with our plans to bring all our European operations together under one Regional Management team.

“As we have already stated, the main reasons for structuring our European business in this way are to facilitate a pan-European solution for the preparation of Solvency II; to better support and empower local underwriters and to benefit from a more efficient structure. It will also help to position us for the proposed creation of a single UK domiciled Pan-European insurer.

“However I would emphasise that as far as our brokers and clients are concerned there is no change to the way we operate in each country. The same teams will continue to deliver their expert underwriting and claims handling as they do now.”

“Basing the Headquarters in London does offer considerable benefits. London is an extremely important market in the world context and is the European operational centre for many of the international brokers. In addition, we expect to benefit from the UK FSA’s experience and role in the use of capital models in our preparation towards Solvency II.”

Country operations will report into one of three managing directors depending on geographical location. The newly appointed managing directors will report to Lex Baugh.

James Shea, previously regional president for Chartis CECIS, is managing director of Chartis UK and will be responsible for the operation within the United Kingdom which is supervised by the UK insurance regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA)

Ralph Brand, previously COO of Chartis Europe SA is Managing Director of Chartis Northern Europe and will be responsible for the operations in: Austria, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Finland, Slovakia, Germany, Sweden, Hungary, Switzerland and Ireland.

Nicolas Aubert, previously managing director of France, is managing director of Chartis Southern Europe and will be responsible for the operations in: Belgium, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Malta, Cyprus, Portugal, France, Romania, Greece, Spain and Italy.

Brand and Aubert will remain members of the management board of Chartis Europe SA, which is supervised by the French insurance regulator, Autorité de contrôle prudentiel (ACP).

Other significant regional appointments include;

• Emmanuel Brule, as executive director commercial division, formerly general manager of Switzerland
• Dan Doherty, as executive director consumer division, formerly regional consumer lines manager for the CECIS region
• Steve Agutter, as executive director Claims Europe, formerly regional claims manager for the UK/Ireland region.

Baugh said: “I am looking forward to working with the new regional team who have been drawn from across Europe. This is a truly multinational, multi faceted team with a wealth of experience and I am confident of their ability to provide the leadership and drive we seek in their respective areas. ”