Swiss Re Chief Investment Officer David Blumer has resigned effective Nov. 1, 2012.Blumer "decided to leave the company" and a successor will be announced "in due course," reinsurer's board of directors said in a statement. Efforts to contact Swiss Re for further comment were not immediately successful.
Blumer, 44, joined Swiss Re in May 2008 as head of asset management and a member of the Executive Committee. In October 2010, he became chairman of Admin Re, Swiss Re's business unit responsible for acquiring closed blocks of life insurance business. Before joining Swiss Re, Blumer had been a member of the executive board at Credit Suisse.
"The Board of Directors very much regrets David's decision to leave Swiss Re after more than four years of successfully leading asset management," said Chairman Walter B. Kielholz in a statement. "Under his leadership Swiss Re's asset management has focused on a prudent asset-liability matched approach and has delivered excellent investment returns, despite turbulent financial markets.
"Asset management is exceptionally well-placed to continue to support Swiss Re's new corporate structure and in achieving Swiss Re's five-year financial targets," said Kielholz, noting that Admin Re business "greatly benefited" from Blumer's contribution, "not least in the context of the recent sale of the U.S. business of Admin Re."
In its second-quarter earnings presentation, Swiss Re said returns on the U.S. business were too low to justify staying in it. The reinsurer sold the U.S. business of Admin Re to Jackson National Life Insurance Co. and expects to take an ultimate $400 million loss on the deal. Swiss Re wrote off a $1 billion loss on the sale in its second-quarter results, but expects to claim a $600 million gain on the deal in the third quarter.
The reinsurer posted second-quarter net income of $83 million, down 91% from $960 million a year earlier. Net income was down in three of the company's four business segments, although it surged 86% in the property/casualty reinsurance segment to finish the quarter with $717 million.
Swiss Reinsurance Co. Ltd currently has a Best's Financial Strength Rating of A+ (Superior).