‘Brilliant Basics’ Continues at QBE With Naming of New Senior Execs

QBE is continuing to revamp its senior management team as part of an ongoing effort to reshape its strategic focus and create more simplified structure.

The effort, known as “Brilliant Basics,” launched companywide earlier in 2018 with a goal of ensuring high standards for underwriting, risk selection, pricing and claims. QBE’s announcement of the effort came as it disclosed a $1.2 billion after-tax loss in 2017 on “unprecedented” natural catastrophe claims.

QBE Group Chief Executive Officer Pat Reagan said that the management changes are a necessary step to ensure the success of “Brilliant Basics.”

“To deliver this plan we need a senior management team with deep insurance expertise and the capabilities required to build on QBE’s strengths and to deliver excellence across the group consistently,” Regan said in prepared remarks. “These appointments will assist significantly in delivering on our priorities in 2018 and beyond.”

Here are the new appointments:

• Inder Singh, Group Chief Financial Officer. He’ll replace Michael Ford, who is departing the company. Singh is currently CFO for QBE’s Australian & New Zealand operations. He joined QBE in 2015 as group head of corporate development and has also served as group head of financial planning and analysis. Before QBE, he held executive positions at Aviva and UBS Investment Bank, London. He’ll be based in Sydney at the company’s head office.

• Peter Grewal, Group Chief Risk Officer. He joins QBE from Swiss Re, where he served as chief risk officer, Reinsurance, since 2014, with a global remit covering property/casualty and life/health reinsurance. Previously, he held executive roles in internal audit including head of group internal audit for Swiss Re, head of internal audit for Scottish Re and head of audit for HSBC (Bank of Bermuda). He joins QBE in July 2018 and will be based in Sydney.

• Liam Buckley, Group Head of Culture and Talent. Currently interim group chief risk officer, he joined QBE in 2014 as the group head of internal audit. Before that, he was the general manager, innovation investments and strategy at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

• Matt Mansour, Group Chief Information Officer. Mansour is coming on board from Barclays, where he is currently chief technology information security officer. Before joining Barclays in 2015, Mansour worked for General Electric for more than 12 years in various leadership roles in Australia and New Zealand. He’ll join QBE in late 2018 and be based in London.

• Anders Land, Group Head of Internal Audit. He was appointed after serving in the position for eight months on an interim basis. Before QBE, Land held senior roles in risk and compliance at AIG and MetLife.

QBE is also looking to fill a new role – group chief underwriting officer – and Reagan said the search is “progressing well.”

Source: QBE