New Beazley boss not moving to London as Zurich’s Greco confirms hire is medium-term move

Zurich’s group chief executive, Mario Greco, has confirmed to Insurance Times that the appointment of Kristof Terryn to lead the newly bought Beazley business is akin to an interim position, designed to support the post-acquisition integration process rather than being a long-term hire.

Zurich announced in February 2026 that it had agreed to acquire London-centric cyber specialist insurer Beazley in a deal amounting to £8.1bn. The High Court of England and Wales approved the acquisition in September 2026, with the deal then completing on 1 October 2026.

At this point, Zurich applied to the FCA and the London Stock Exchange (LSE) regarding the delisting of Beazley shares and the cancellation of the admission to trading of Beazley shares on the main market of the LSE.

As part of this flurry of activity, Zurich stated that long-term Beazley boss Adrian Cox would be stepping down from his role – he had served as group chief executive of the firm for around five years, after a two-year stint as its chief underwriting officer.

Promoted into Cox’s place to lead as chief executive of Beazley and Zurich Global Specialty was Kristof Terryn, previously chief executive of Zurich’s Europe, Middle East and global retail division, based in Switzerland.

Terryn has worked for Zurich since 2007, being based in either Switzerland or the US. Prior to his most recent roles at the insurer, Terryn has also undertaken positions such as chief executive of its North American operation, group chief operating officer and chief executive for general insurance. He has not previously worked in the UK, or the London market.

Europe-based London leader

In an exclusive conversation with Insurance Times, Greco confirmed that Swiss and Belgian born Terryn would not be relocating to London with his promotion to Beazley boss.

Instead, the appointment is more a medium-term hire where Terryn can use his experience in specialty insurance to support Beazley’s integration with Zurich – a process which Greco predicted will take until 2029 roughly.

Greco said: “Terryn knows our specialty business very well. He’s been in the US, which is a big portion of our specialty business. That means he has a strong connection with American brokers [and businesses, which] can be very helpful now in beginning to open the doors to Beazley underwriters and Beazley colleagues to American business and American brokers – so he can bridge that.

“He can do that job and then, later on, we will reflect on who is the best person, over a long period of time, to run this business.

“Once we have completed the integration, we will reassess the situation and we will understand what we need. But these days, [Terryn] is absolutely indispensable because he knows very well the [specialty] business and so he is helping a lot [with] the introduction of Beazley and the Beazley underwriters into the Zurich opportunities.”

Greco added that Cox’s departure post-acquisition was “definitely a friendly agreement” and a common consequence that can arise following such an M&A deal.

“It’s in the history of these transactions,” he said. “It wasn’t intentional and it just happened.”