Zurich Insurance Group continues its ongoing effort to reorganize and streamline with news that its North America Commercial Markets and Global Corporate businesses will combine into one division.

Paul Horgan, formerly head of Global Corporate in North America and a 30-year industry veteran, is slated to lead the newly-formed unit. He’ll report to Mike Foley, CEO of Zurich North America, and James Shea, CEO of Commercial Insurance globally.

Foley explained in prepared remarks that the combination “allows us to simplify our customer interaction and go-to-market approach.” The new streamlined unit will service mid-sized companies and the largest corporate enterprises and still include Zurich’s Claims and Risk Engineering services. But the combo enables Zurich to create a “wide range of program structures that effectively manage our customers’ total cost of risk,” Foley said.

In a related move, Zurich North America named Craig Fundum, formerly head of Commercial Markets, as chief administrative officer. In his new role, he’ll handle strategic execution, human resources, community investment and employee engagement. As well, Fundum will chair Zurich’s Risk and Control committee in North America, coordinating with Audit, Risk and Compliance. He’ll still report to Foley.

Zurich has been working through operational and underwriting changes after substantial losses last year. CEO Mario Greco jumped to Zurich from Generali in March and he’s cutting jobs, selling assets and streamlining in an effort to improve profitability.

Source: Zurich Insurance