Swiss Re’s group chief financial officer is stepping down, and the reinsurer is promoting from within to replace him.

John Dacey, currently group chief strategy officer, will become group chief financial officer as of April 1, 2018. He succeeds David Cole, who will step down as group CFO on March 31, 2018 after seven years with Swiss Re, in order to pursue a non-executive career.

Cole will remain a board member of several Swiss Re subsidiaries.

Dacey joined Swiss Re’s group executive committee five years ago as group chief strategy officer. His career in the insurance/reinsurance industry spans more than 20 years, during which time he has held various senior executive positions.

From 2007 to 2012, Dacey served as AXA’s group regional CEO and group vice chairman for Asia-Pacific. Prior to that, he was a member of the group executive board at Winterthur Insurance, first as its chief financial officer from 2000 to 2004 and subsequently as the company’s chief strategy officer from 2005 to 2007and member of its risk and investment committees.

Swiss Re Chairman Walter Kielholz credited Cole with transforming the carrier’s finance division “into an efficient allocator of capital across the group.”

“While we will miss having him in our group executive committee, we are delighted that he will stay involved with Swiss Re and that we will continue to benefit from his experience,” Kielholz added in prepared remarks.

Kielholz, said Dacey was crucial in shaping Swiss Re’s strategy and launching the Swiss Re Institute, a segment of the company designed “to deliver powerful insights on current and future issues” involving insurers, reinsurers and the world at large, according to the company’s web site.

With these changes, the board of directors has also decided that the two positions group chief financial officer and group chief strategy officer will be merged.

Source: Swiss Re