QBE Group's chief executive John Neal is stepping down after leading the insurance giant through a "challenging" five-year period, in the face of investor frustration over the company's performance.Mr. Neal will be replaced by the head of its Australian and New Zealand business Pat Regan, an appointment that was welcomed by investors, amid bets Mr. Regan would take the axe to costs and rationalise the sprawling business.
The outgoing chief will step down at the end of this year, having led QBE during a period in which the company has failed to ditch its reputation for springing negative surprises on the market, despite efforts by Mr. Neal to simplify QBE.
QBE has in recent months been under renewed pressure from the market after unveiling more surprises including a poor performance in its emerging markets business, and disappointing market guidance at its results last month.
These shocks dealt a blow to investor confidence in Mr. Neal's turnaround of QBE, which had been expanded by a wave of acquisitions under former chief executive Frank O'Halloran, who led the company for 14 years until 2012.
Arnhem Investment Management managing partner Mark Nathan said there had been a build-up in investor disappointment towards QBE in recent years, and the negative surprises of recent months had added to this.
"It's been quite a difficult period in insurance markets generally during John's tenure, and there's been a range of QBE-specific issues as well," Mr Nathan said. "I think there's a cumulative effect."
Mr. Nathan said it was too early to assess the legacy of Mr. Neal, though history may judge him "less harshly" as the impact of his attempts to simplify QBE and cut costs became clearer.