Zurich Replaces CIO to Run $200B | Chief Investment Officer

One of Europe’s largest insurance companies has moved its CIO to a chief risk officer (CRO) role to replace a 20-year staffer at the firm.

Cecilia Reyes, ZurichCecilia Reyes, who has run the insurer’s $200 billion portfolio since April 2010, is to move to the new role on July 1. The CIO position will be taken up by Urban Angehrn, who is currently head of alternative investments at the company.

Axel Lehmann, the current CRO, is to leave the company by the end of the year, Zurich said.

“Cecilia has very successfully managed our $200 billion investment portfolio in times of market volatility and declining interest rates,” said Martin Senn, Zurich’s CEO. “Her in-depth knowledge of Zurich and her leadership position her well for this new role.”

Angehrn, the new CIO, joined Zurich in 2007 as regional investment manager for Europe. From 2010 until 2012 he was head of strategy implementation in investment management, and was then appointed head of alternative investments. His career spans several decades working with institutional clients at various European financial institutions.

In December 2013, Reyes told CIO that Zurich wanted to be a leading force in responsible and impact investing. The insurer was shortlisted for CIO’s 2014 European Innovation Awards in the portfolio construction category.

Elsewhere, the A$2.6 billion LegalSuper fund has appointed its first CIO. Edward Smith will take up the new role with the pension scheme for workers within Australian legal profession, at the end of June, the fund said. He was previously head of portfolio management at Australian Unity.