Delaney, who will take up his appointment in December 2019, brings to the role almost 25 years of experience in the Australian financial services industry. He was most recently the Chief Operating Officer for TAL’s life insurance business.

Prior to that, Mr Delaney held senior roles for over 12 years with the Macquarie Group, where he oversaw the creation and growth of Macquarie Life, as well as leading their platforms, superannuation and online broking businesses.

Delaney succeeds Tim Bailey, who is returning to Europe to take up another role within the Zurich Group.

Since joining the Australian business from Zurich’s Group Head Office in early 2015, Bailey has overseen the successful acquisition and integration of the Macquarie Life business, and most recently the successful completion of Zurich’s acquisition of OnePath Life.

In announcing the leadership changes, Mr Jack Howell, Zurich’s APAC Regional CEO, said that Mr Delaney will join a strong, growing business that was now a true leader in the Australian life insurance sector.

“Our Australian life insurance operations are now our largest regional revenue contributor and underpin our growth aspirations throughout Asia Pacific.

“Justin brings excellent experience across all channels in the life sector, and joins a business with a clearly defined strategy, built on a commitment to a dual brand, multi-proposition approach in retail, and strong growth aspirations across group life, bancassurance and investments.

“This strategy has been developed and executed by a stable and highly experience senior leadership team, and I know Justin is looking forward to working with them immensely.”

Howell also thanked outgoing CEO Tim Bailey for his role in growing the Australian business to a position of genuine strength.

“As CEO, Tim has successfully grown Zurich from a mid-tier player to a true market leader in Australia.

“One of the many drivers of this success has been Tim’s focus on organisational culture, and we are proud of the excellent employee engagement seen across the Australian Life and Investments business, which is amongst the highest in Zurich Group.

“Tim was able to articulate a clear strategic vision, and motivated and empowered his people to deliver it. The excellent results that the business continues to achieve are a real testament to this.”

Bailey will continue in his role as Australian Life and Investments CEO until late 2019 when Delaney takes up his appointment.

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Tim Bailey

The transaction, which is subject to regulatory and other approvals, will see Zurich meeting the protection needs of more than 1.5 million customers, and becoming Australia’s largest retail life insurer as measured by inforce premium.

The transaction also creates the platform for a significant expansion of Zurich’s distribution footprint, via a 20 year agreement for the distribution of life insurance products through ANZ’s bank distribution channels, and an opportunity to establish a strategic alliance with IOOF.

The deal will also see Zurich secure a strong position in the Australian group life segment.

Mr Jack Howell, Zurich’s Regional CEO Asia Pacific, said, “Our global leadership has earmarked the Asia Pacific region to be a major engine of growth for the Zurich Group, and this opportunity allows us to accelerate that growth by building on our recent acquisitions of Macquarie’s life insurance business and the Cover-More Group.

“Importantly, we are acquiring a profitable business with loyal customers and a track record of strong, stable cash flows,” he said.

Mr Tim Bailey, CEO of Zurich’s Australian Life and Investments business, said, “In Australia, this acquisition will enhance our scale and capability across the retail, group and direct segments, and opens up important new distribution channels for us.

“Securing a long term partnership with one of Australia’s largest banks and an opportunity to establish a strategic alliance with the second largest advice business in the market will provide us a fantastic base for continued growth and reflects our ongoing belief in, and commitment to, the value of financial advice.

“Both the OneCare range, and Zurich’s own Wealth Protection range remain core offerings.

“This deal sees two true insurance specialists come together, and opens up exciting opportunities for us to invest in new ways to make life insurance more relevant, more engaging and more accessible to Australians,” said Mr Bailey.

“It also makes us the number one retail life insurer in Australia, and we look forward to extending our award-winning proposition to a much expanded customer base,” he added.

Another of Zurich’s priorities is to provide certainty and continuity to ANZ employees affected by the transaction. Upon completion of the sale, expected to be late 2018, in scope employees will transition across to Zurich.

“We are excited about the opportunity to bring two highly talented teams together. OnePath Life is a blue-chip life insurance brand with a long heritage in the Australian market and an experienced, well regarded team,” added Mr Howell.

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