The biggest people moves this week

Among firms making moves this week was Liberty Specialty Markets, which entered the UK high net worth (HNW) market and hired Benjamin Faerestrand to spearhead the launch.

Faerestrand joins from Chubb, where he served as a strategic account and team manager, and brings nearly 15 years of industry experience. He will work closely with Liberty’s fine art and specie teams across Europe and the US.

• Liberty enters UK HNW market with hire from Chubb

This week also saw Allianz Commercial announce two appointments to its UK leadership team within mid-market and large corporate.

Graham Stait, who has been serving as director of mid-market on an interim basis, will now assume this role permanently, with the new title of director for UK markets.

Meanwhile, Luke Baker has been appointed director of UK global – as well as the UK branch manager of AGCS SE.

• Allianz Commercial announces two UK leadership appointments

Meanwhile, it was also confirmed that Henri de la Serve will become chief financial officer at Axa UK and Ireland from 1 September 2025, joining from Axa Spain, where he currently holds the same role.

Serve will join the UK and Ireland management committee and report to chief executive Tara Foley. He replaces Roland Moquet, who has been appointed CFO at Axa Belgium.

• Axa UK and Ireland appoints new chief financial officer

And premium finance provider PremFina reshaped its leadership team as it targets an 85% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through to 2027.

Former COO Laura Sweetman has been named chief product and revenue officer, overseeing product and sales. Maz Chambers moves from chief transformation officer to chief operations officer, while Ben Lemmon has been promoted to business development director.

• PremFina overhauls leadership as it targets 85% growth and broker expansion

Finally, claims service provider McLarens has appointed Danny Miller as its new chief global strategy officer, a newly created position within its global management team.

Miller will lead long-term strategic planning, M&A evaluation and enterprise-level initiatives. He joins with over 30 years of leadership experience, having held senior roles at Sedgwick and Knight Commercial.

• McLarens expands global leadership team with new chief global strategy officer