April 24, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Allianz Life Insurance Korea, a local insurer acquired by China’s Anbang Group late last year, said on June 30 it appointed its current CFO as the new chief executive. 

Allianz Life Korea's board on June 29 approved the appointment of Sun Lei to succeed the incumbent Jan Joris Louwerier. It also approved naming Chinese-Canadian Roy Guo as the new CFO. Guo worked at Maple Tree Financial Investment, a Vancouver-based affiliate of Anbang Insurance.

Allianz Life Insurance's new CEO Sun Lei (left) and CFO Roy Guo

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Following the latest reshuffle, the board now consists of two Koreans and seven foreign nationals with Chinese background.

The new appointments come as Allianz Life is rebranding itself as AB Life Insurance in a bid to reveal its Chinese ownership more clearly.

The insurer had planned to announce the reshuffle earlier but the board meeting had been delayed for days amid Chinese authorities’ corruption probe into local management, including Anbang’s former Chairman Wu Wizohui who was arrested recently. The chairman who has been leading the group’s aggressive overseas buyouts in recent years stepped down last month, citing personal reasons. 

Anbang Life Insurance took over a 63 percent stake in Tongyang for 1.13 trillion won (US$997 million) in 2015, while Anbang Group Holdings acquired the entire stake in Allianz for 3.5 billion won last year. The holding company, 100 percent owned by the insurance unit, also owns a 33.33 percent stake in Tongyang.

By Park Ga-young (gypark@heraldcorp.com)