QBE Insurance Group Limited announced Monday that it is combining its Latin America and Asia Pacific divisions to form the QBE Emerging Markets division, characterizing the move as a strategic change positioning the business for profitable growth.

In a statement about the change, John Neal, QBE Group Chief Executive Officer said “A critical part of our value creation model, outlined in our 2012 and 2013 annual reports, has been QBE’s focus on building our presence in emerging markets.

“When looking at both these regions through the emerging markets lens, we see significant upside for QBE, both in the way we operate and the way we work to deliver relevant and differentiated products and services to our growing customer base.”

As a result of bringing the two divisions together, current CEO of Asia Pacific Operations, David Fried, has been appointed the CEO for the Emerging Markets division effective August 15.

Latin America Operations CEO, Jose Sojo, has made a decision to take on a challenge outside the group, Neal said, adding that Sojo has agreed to will remain with the group until the end of 2014 to ensure a smooth transition and that QBE is continuing to explore a number of ways through which it can retain his involvement with QBE in the region.

Beyond that, QBE said the changes take effect on Aug. 15.

Source: QBE