Zurich appoints chief risk officer

Zurich Financial Services Australia has announced the appointment of David Wainwright to the position of chief risk officer for Australia and New Zealand.

Wainwright has close to 25 years' experience in financial services and joins from Zurich in the United Kingdom where he is currently chief risk officer for its Life business.

Prior to that, Wainwright has held various risk management and leadership roles at Zurich UK, Nomura Securities, Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) and Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) Global Banking and Markets.

Zurich chief executive Justin Delaney welcomed the appointment saying Wainwright will play a key role going forward.

"Mr Wainwright brings a strong breadth of global experience to this role, paired with an impressive technical and leadership capability," Delaney said.

"He will play a key role in driving Zurich's local risk strategy against a backdrop of an increasingly complex environment. We look forward to welcoming him to Zurich's local leadership team in the new year."

Commenting, Wainwright said: "I am delighted and honoured to be joining the Zurich team in Australia and look forward to further evolving the team's strong risk management capability."

Commencing 6 January 2025, Wainwright will relocate from the UK to Sydney and report into Zurich's regional head of risk for Asia Pacific Sid Medappa.

Wainwright will succeed Jaimie Sach, who is retiring after holding the chief risk officer role at Zurich since 2019.