QBE appoints new global CIO

Barclays’ head of information security Matt Mansour will join QBE as the insurance group’s global chief information officer.

QBE announced the appointment today as part of an extensive management reshuffle.

Mansour joined Barclays in 2015 as head of application services. Prior to joining the bank he held a string of roles at GE Capital. He is a former CIO at GE Australia and previously held the CIO title for Australia and New Zealand at GE Capital.

He will join QBE in late 2018 and be based in London.

QBE created the global CIO position in 2016.  Markus Nordlin, former chief information and technology officer at Zurich Insurance, was appointed to the role.

Nordlin was tasked with creating a united IT strategy across the group, simplifying technology architecture and driving change,

A QBE spokesperson confirmed that Nordlin left the company in November 2017. Group head of transformation Bob James has acted as CIO since his departure.

“We have commenced an accelerated reshaping of the company’s strategic focus to create a stronger and simpler QBE,” QBE group CEO Pat Regan said in a statement released today.

“This includes a prioritisation of ‘Brilliant Basics’ – improving underwriting quality, pricing and claims handling in every market in which we operate and every product we underwrite.

“To deliver this plan we need a senior management team with deep insurance expertise and the capabilities required to build on QBE’s strengths and to deliver excellence across the group consistently.”

The other appointments announced today included Inder Singh as group CFO, replacing Michael Ford who is leaving QBE; Peter Grewal as group chief risk officer; Liam Buckley as group head of culture and Talent;  and Anders Land as group head of internal audit.

Last month QBE’s Australian CIO was made redundant after the insurer combined its ANZ technology and transformation teams.