Strategic Risk Solutions (SRS) has expanded into Switzerland with the hires of Markus Beck, Georg Balint and Maria Sandoval to key positions in its new office, located in Zurich. Effective 1 April, Beck will join SRS as managing director (Switzerland) to develop and lead the firm’s Swiss insurance management practice. Beck joins SRS from Aon insurance managers (Switzerland/Liechtenstein) where, since 2015, he has held several roles including senior risk finance consultant, chief compliance officer and, more recently as managing director of captive operations. Balint joined SRS as managing director (Switzerland) earlier this month to develop and lead the Swiss actuarial practice. In his new role, he will support the firm’s European risk consulting operations. Balint joined SRS from Aon Switzerland where he served as senior consultant and head of actuarial and analytics since 2017. Sandoval will take on the role of senior account manager (Switzerland), effective 1 March 2021. She will support the servicing of the firm’s Swiss domiciled clients. Sandoval also joins from Aon insurance managers (Switzerland/Liechtenstein) where she has served as an account manager since 2016. Prior to Aon, she held the role of corporate controller with Holcim Group in Zurich for 15 years. Commenting on the expansion, Brady Young, CEO of SRS, says: “With its vigilant regulatory regime and stable operating environment, Switzerland is a key market for SRS, so this is another milestone in our goal of expanding the global reach of our company.” He continues: “And we are delighted to welcome Markus Beck, Georg Balint and Maria Sandoval to our team. Each is an experienced industry professional who will provide SRS with a strong foundation to serve captive and commercial insurance clients in Switzerland.” “In addition, Beck, Balint and Sandoval will add depth to our growing European presence and operate as part of SRS’s broader pan-European insurance management team,” he concludes. Captive insurance companies active in Switzerland are set to benefit from the partial revision of the Insurance Oversight Act (IOA), which regulates the supervision of re/insurance undertakings and insurance intermediaries in Switzerland. Under the revisions, captives that are subject to Swiss supervision will profit from regulatory relief when they provide insurance or reinsurance services exclusively to companies of their group that are not active in the professional insurance business of third parties. Discussing the changes, Diana Lafita, attorney at law at Loyens & Loeff, an international law and tax firm with offices in Switzerland and the Benelux, explains:“In particular, they will be relieved from establishing tied assets and an organisation fund, as well as from affiliating with an Ombudsman – the latter being a requirement for insurers and independent insurance intermediaries under the revised IOA.”
