Hong Kong move ahead for Middle East-based Duane Perkins

Duane Perkins has been appointed regional chief claims officer (CCO) for Zurich’s general insurance (GI) business in the Asia-Pacific region.

Perkins will be relocating from Dubai to Hong Kong and will take over from Steve Bauer who has been serving as interim regional CCO since August. His start date is yet to be confirmed.

The head of Zurich’s GI business in the Asia-Pacific region, Johnny Chen, said that he was pleased that the company had appointed someone with experience in claims management at local, regional and global levels.

“With an already established track record of managing claims for the Asia-Pacific region, Duane will be well positioned to further build and strengthen our claims function within this geography,” Chen said.

Chen added that Perkins would focus on driving claims performance and technical excellence across the region to improve Zurich’s technical capabilities, and “positively impact claims effectiveness, efficiency and customer experience”.

Perkins has more than 20 years of strategic, technical and operational leadership experience in many lines of business across personal, commercial and specialty lines.

He has held numerous roles within Zurich, including senior vice-president of claims services for Zurich in North America and head of The Zurich Way (TZW) of claims. Most recently, he served as regional CCO for the Middle East and Africa.