Lloyd's Fills CFO Seat with Executive From Allianz's German Unit

By Tatyana Shumsky 

Lloyd's of London, the U.K. insurance market, appointed Burkhard Keese as chief financial officer, nabbing the finance head of a German insurance company to lead its finance team.

Mr. Keese will start his new role on April 1, pending approval by the U.K.'s Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority, the company said.

Mr. Keese is currently CFO of Allianz Deutschland AG, Germany's largest insurer, a role he's held since 2012. Before that, he was executive vice president and chief operating officer of the global finance team. He spent 14 years at Allianz Group.

"He is an accomplished chief financial officer with leadership experience across financial, capital and investment management, as well as proven expertise in business transformation," John Neal, the chief executive of Lloyd's, said in a statement.

Allianz said it would announce Mr. Keese's successor at a later date, according to a statement.

Mr. Keese succeeds John Parry, who in May last year announced plans to leave after 17 years at Lloyd's. Mr. Parry had been CFO since 2014 and had joined the insurer in August 2001.

To ensure a smooth transition, Mr. Parry will remain with Lloyd's as CFO until after the company reports its full-year 2018 results in March, a Lloyd's spokesman said.

Mr. Keese's appointment comes roughly five months after the insurance market named a new CEO. Mr. Neal, previously CEO of Australia's QBE Insurance Group Ltd., was named to the job in September.

Lloyd's in September reported a pretax first-half profit of GBP600 million ($784.92 million). The profit was down from GBP1.2 billion in the first half of 2017. The decline was the result of lower investment returns, the company said.

Write to Tatyana Shumsky at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 04, 2019 17:25 ET (22:25 GMT)

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