Profile: The billion pound man

Winston Churchill reportedly once said of Clement Attlee that he was a modest man who had much to be modest about. You could say of Jon Dye, general manager of Allianz Retail, that he is a smug man who has much to be smug about. Only you’d be half wrong.

In November 2007, the insurer formed its Retail division and moved Mr Dye from director of claims to head up the new operation. In 2009 the business went backwards for the year and Mr Dye’s prediction of £1bn of gross written premium by the end