Aviva heads to Zurich for corporate risk and specialty lines MD

As revealed by Insurance Age's sister title, Post, Mr Hall, who took up his role at Zurich in June 2008, will serve a period of gardening leave before joining Aviva early next year. Mr Hall will be based in St Helen's in London, Aviva's head office.

In his new role at Aviva, Mr Hall will be responsible for building the corporate risks and specialty lines business and will be part of Aviva's UK general insurance executive team, reporting to UK general insurance CEO David McMillan.

A spokesman for Aviva said the creation of Mr Hall's role reflected the insurer's increasing risk appetite in both areas of the business.

Mr Hall's appointment is the latest senior appointment in Aviva's corporate risks sector. Dipak Warren joined Aviva as Corporate Risk Solutions director from Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance in September. Ms Warren, who currently reports into chief underwriting officer Axel Schmidt, will report into Mr Hall once he joins.

Commenting on Mr Hall's appointment, Mr McMillan said: "We are delighted to have someone of David's calibre join Aviva which underlines our ambition and commitment to grow our corporate risks and specialty lines business.

"David has a great reputation in this market, with a proven track record based on more than 20 years in the business."

Mr Hall said: "I'm delighted to be joining Aviva and relish the challenge of building a market leading business in Aviva."

Mr McMillan continued: "We already have a very strong, profitable presence in the specialty lines arena. Aviva trades in a number of different sectors and our plan is to build upon our current position of strength, as well as the early success we have seen with corporate risk solutions, and achieve significant and profitable growth across all sectors."

Since announcing the intention to grow its corporate presence in November 2009, Aviva has signed deals with Comet and Marie Curie. The insurer has also joined Marsh's panel of insurers.