By Favour Nnabugwu

Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) has appointed Scott Sayce as global head of cyber, based in London effective 1 September 2021.

He joins AGCS from AXA and will succeed Dr Catharina Richter, current global head of the cyber centre of competence for AGCS and Allianz Group, who will move to a new role, to be confirmed in due course.

According to AGCS, Mr Sayce will steer AGCS’s cyber underwriting business and will also lead the group-wide cyber centre of competence at Allianz, which is embedded into AGCS. He will report to Shanil Williams, global head of financial lines.

Mr Sayce held a variety of increasingly senior leadership roles at AXA after joining in 2017. He started out as global chief underwriting officer cyber within AXA’s corporate solutions division, while also being group chief underwriting officer for cyber. In 2018, he became group head of cyber, then subsequently, group head of financial lines and cyber. He was previously head of the cyber, technology and life science divisions for CNA Hardy.

AGCS’s chief underwriting officer corporate Tony Buckle said: “A huge thank you to Catharina Richter for her leadership of the cyber centre of competence and her contribution to the further evolution of our cyber underwriting approach and product offering. A warm welcome also to Scott Sayce – he is a leading expert in the field of cyber underwriting, with significant global experience, and he will help drive this key part of our business forward for AGCS and for the wider Allianz Group.”

The Allianz cyber centre of competence was established in 2018 and focuses on group-wide coordination and alignment of cyber exposures and underwriting in the corporate and commercial insurance segment.