Generali Taps New Players in Reorganization at the Top
May 2016
Generali Group’s new CEO Philippe Donnet does not lose any time in making changes to the structure of the global insurance leader from Trieste, Italy.
Generali in May 2016 announced the formation of a new “Global Business Lines & International” business unit, which will consolidate the individual units of Generali Global Business Lines (GBL), i.e. Generali Global Corporate & Commercial, Generali Employee Benefits (GEB), and Generali Global Health and Europ Assistance with EMEA (led by Jaime Anchùstegui), Asia (led by Jack Howell) and the Americas (led by Antonio Cassio dos Santos). The Central and Eastern European (CEE) region led by Luciano Cirinà remains unaffected. It should be underlined that Generali’s EMEA region does not include Generali’s home market, Italy, or France or Germany.
Frédéric de Courtois, currently with AXA in Italy, will head the new business unit when he joins Generali from AXA in September 2016. This reorganization should have little impact, if any, on GEB.
Also notable in this restructuring are arrivals and departures of key players such as Luciano Cirinà (CEE Regional Officer) and Valter Trevisani (Group Chief Insurance Officer), who were already on board and now join the Group Management Committee, while Carsten Schildknecht (Group Chief Operating Officer – GCOO), will leave the group at the end of July, 2016. General Manager Alberto Minali will then assume direct responsibility for GCOO duties, which are subject to future reorganization.
The position of Country Manager for Italy was separated from the CEO and General Manager’s duties. Marco Sesana will be the new CEO and General Manager of Generali Italy, succeeding Philippe Donnet who remains Country Manager. The CEOs of the other Italian subsidiaries continue to report to Philippe Donnet in his capacity of Country Manager, Italy.
Generali’s official organization chart as of May 20 2016 does not yet reflect completely the future structure. Generali’s current organization chart.
To put things in perspective, here is the breakdown of Generali’s premiums written and profits by region (FY2015):
Premiums | Operating result | |
Italy | 34% | 44% |
Germany | 24% | 17% |
France | 15% | 14% |
Largest three countries | 73% | 75% |
EMEA | 15% | 16% |
CEE | 5% | 9% |
Asia | 3% | 3% |
Latam | 2% | 1% |
International | 2% | -4% |
The top three countries represent approximately 75% of sales and of profits, which probably explains why their respective heads report directly to the CEO. Bundling together EMEA, Asia, Latin America and International results in a single unit that at 22% of sales is roughly on par with Germany, Generali’s second largest country unit. Why Central Europe remains separate is unclear at this time.