Paul Sykes leaves Aon after 33 years with the firm, ending a career spanning Guernsey's captive, protected cell and insurance-linked securities (ILS) sectors. Sykes held leadership roles for Aon across Guernsey, Gibraltar and Malta, and regionally with the White Rock Group and ACIM Underwriting Solutions. In his early years at the firm he helped establish White Rock, described as the world's first protected cell company. Following his return to Guernsey in 2010, he says he was at the forefront of developing the island's ILS and commercial reinsurance sectors, and more recently its expansion into humanitarian and sustainable finance solutions. Over his career he served as a director on more than 50 boards of reinsurance companies, life and general insurers, captives, PCCs, ICCs, pension and trust companies. He is a past chairman of the insurance associations of both Guernsey and Gibraltar, and in 2025 received the Steve Butterworth Award for service to the international insurance industry. "After 33 years with Aon, I've decided to leave the firm," Sykes says. "I've enjoyed a wonderful career with leadership roles across Guernsey, Gibraltar and Malta, and regionally with the White Rock Group and ACIM Underwriting Solutions. I always believed that Aon has more entrepreneurial spirit and a greater appetite for innovation than other companies I could have worked for." Sykes notes that Aon Guernsey continues to grow and remains ACIM's largest EMEA domicile. He will continue in his role as chairman of Guernsey Finance, a position he took up in April 2025 succeeding Guernsey's chief minister, Deputy Lyndon Trott, alongside developing his other non-executive interests. At Guernsey Finance, Sykes says the island's financial services future lies in continued leadership in wealth management, investment funds and specialist insurance, delivered through a strategy aligned with the Finance Sector Strategy 2035.
