Cecilia Reyes, chief investment officer of Zurich Insurance Group, is to take on the additional responsibility of regional chairman of Asia Pacific, succeeding Geoff Riddell, who will be retiring.
Reyes assumes her additional role on 1 April. Riddell, who will step down from the group executive committee at the end of next month, will continue to be involved for a transition period until then.
Zurich CEO Martin Senn said, "With her strong track record as CIO and diverse international experience, Cecilia is very well positioned to represent the interests of Zurich in this key region."
The company also announced that the net investment result on the group investments in 2014, which includes investment income, net capital gains and losses and impairments, was $9.2bn, an increase of $1.8bn or 24%.
Zurich said this represents a net investment return on average group investments of 4.5%, compared with 3.5% in 2013.
Net capital gains on investments and impairments included in the net investment result increased by $1.8bn to $3.0bn.
According to Zurich, the increase primarily resulted from re-balancing activities because of the deployment of additional risk capital, as well as an increase in the valuation of debt securities booked at fair value through profit or loss and a gain compared with a loss in 2013 from the valuation of derivative financial instruments used for hedging underlying business or investment risks.
Total return on average group investments improved from 1.3% in 2013 to 8.6% last year, boosted by the increase in the net investment result as well as by an increase of $8.5bn in gross unrealised gains and losses, mainly driven by a strong performance in the fixed-income portfolios.
Overall the group reported a business operating profit of $4.6bn and net income attributable to shareholders of $3.9bn for the year ended 31 December 2014.