Interim CEO François de Varenne assumes the deputy CEO mantle at SCOR and also takes over the CFO position from Ian Kelly.

Global reinsurer SCOR has said that interim CEO François de Varenne has been appointed to the roles of group chief financial officer (CFO) and deputy CEO.

Fe Varenne will keep his previous responsibilities and will also be taking on the group’s financial management with immediate effect.

His predecessor as CFO, Ian Kelly, is said to be leaving the group to pursue new professional opportunities.

All this comes after in March SCOR reported a net loss of €301m for 2022.

Thierry Léger, CEO of SCOR, said: “I have decided to entrust François de Varenne with new and important responsibilities within the executive committee.

“I would like to thank Ian Kelly for his contribution to the transformation of the finance function, particularly during the transition to IFRS 17, and wish him every success in the next stage of his career.”

De Varenne joined SCOR in 2005 as director of corporate finance and asset management.

On September 3, 2007, he was named group COO and joined the executive committee. A year later, he was appointed CEO of SCOR Global Investments.

In September 2021, he began oversight of an enlarged area of leadership including investments, technology, budget, transformation, and group corporate finance. He was appointed interim CEO in January.

SCOR announced in January that Thierry Léger would be taking up the post of CEO of SCOR with effect from 1 May 2023. He was most recently the chief underwriting officer of Swiss Re.

Prior to this, Laurent Rousseau, who succeeded Denis Kessler as CEO in June 2021, resigned from his board and CEO positions. This followed rating action from all four major rating agencies. Moody’s Investor Services downgraded the IFS rating of SCOR to A1 from Aa3 and changed the outlook to stable from negative.

“François has successfully led the Group on an interim basis over the past three months. He knows the company inside out and has a perfect grasp of the financial mechanisms of all our activities. I have every confidence in him to help me write this new chapter in SCOR’s history,” Léger added.

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