Zurich Financial Services Australia (Zurich) has announced the appointment of Matt Paterson to the newly created position of Chief Claims Officer (CCO), Australia and New Zealand.
Reporting directly to Chief Executive Officer, Justin Delaney, the Chief Claims Officer will have enterprise-wide responsibilities for all claims teams and functions across Zurich’s Retail Life, Group Life and General Insurance business segments.
Mr Paterson has over 20 years’ experience across customer service, financial services, telecommunications and consulting. Most recently, he was Group Chief Operations Officer for nib, with responsibility for operational contact centres and claims functions across the Group. Earlier in his career, Mr Paterson was awarded the AFR Boss ‘Young Executive of the Year’ (2009) and the Customer Service Institute of Australia ‘Leader of the Year’ (2007).
Mr Delaney said, “I am delighted to have an executive of Matt’s caliber and experience join Zurich. As the only major composite – life and general – insurer in the market, this appointment represents an important structural change to our team and our business more broadly.”
“A positive and efficient customer claims experience is core to our promise as an insurer. Bringing our claims teams together into one collective function provides a unique opportunity to integrate and scale our claims management and service delivery functions.”
“More importantly, with representation on our senior leadership team, claims will have even greater visibility and focus to deliver improved experiences and efficiency for our individual and commercial customers,” Mr Delaney said.
Since 1 January 2022, claims handling and settling has been a fully regulated activity and included in the definition of a ‘financial service’ under the Corporations Act 2001 with an obligation to provide services efficiently, honestly and fairly.
Mr Paterson will be based in Sydney and will commence in the role on 13 June 2023.