Zurich Insurance CFO found dead

Zurich Insurance Group said on Monday that its chief financial officer (CFO), Pierre Wauthier, had been found dead at his home.The Swiss insurer said in a statement that police were investigating the circumstances of Wauthier’s death, and that no further details had been disclosed.Wauthier, a French and British citizen born in 1960, joined Zurich Insurance in 1996 and became CFO in October 2011. Group controller Vibhu Sharma will replace him as CFO on an interim basis.

The body of Pierre Wauthier, who has dual British and French citizenship, was discovered yesterday morning in his apartment in Zug, Switzerland.
A spokesman for Zug Police, quoted in the Swiss media, said: ‘Currently there are no indications that a third party was involved.’
Wauthier, 53, who was well-respected in the industry, held a Master’s degree in International Finance from l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales and a Masters in private law from the Sorbonne University in Paris.
He began his career at KPMG in 1982. He worked for two years at the French ministry of foreign affairs and joined JPMorgan Chase & Co. in 1985, where he stayed until moving to Zurich Insurance.
He was appointed to the post of CFO at Zurich Insurance Group in September 2011.A statement from the company read: ‘Zurich Insurance Group is in mourning following the death of its Group CFO, Pierre Wauthier, whose body was found this morning at his home.
‘The police are investigating the exact circumstances. Out of consideration for the family no further details have been disclosed.”
Swiss news site Handelsblatt said police had ordered a post-mortem.
It described Wauthier as a ‘financial expert who was calm and rational’.
It added: ‘He never seemed arrogant and also away from the protocol patiently answered questions from journalists.’
Zurich Insurance said earlier this month that net income for the second quarter fell 27 percent to $789 million, missing analysts’ estimates, after floods in central Europe and tornadoes in the U.S. hurt earnings.