Chartis Realigns Geographic Structure to Three Regions from Four

American International Group's Chartis said it has realigned its geographic structure to focus on three regions instead of four.

Chartis will now be organized under three major geographic areas: the Americas, Asia and Europe, Middle East and Africa.

The move was announced Jan. 17, the same day Chartis lost a top executive to Marsh & McLennan Cos. On Jan. 17, Marsh said it's named Julio A. Portalatin as president and chief executive officer of Mercer, the company’s human resource consulting subsidiary. Portalatin was previously president and CEO of Chartis Growth Economies and senior vice president of American International Group Inc. He was responsible for the company's operations in emerging markets: Asia Pacific, South Asia, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Central Europe (Best's News Service, Jan. 17, 2011).

Peter Eastwood, president and CEO of the United States and Canada, will assume responsibility for the Americas, which includes the United States, Canada, Latin America and Bermuda.

Jose Hernandez, president and CEO of the Far East Region, will now have responsibility for Japan and Chartis' Asia Pacific region.

Robert Schimek, who has been Chartis' chief financial officer for six years, has been named president and CEO of EMEA, with responsibility for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

James Bracken, who has served as a deputy CFO, has been promoted to CFO of Chartis. He'll report to David Herzog, CFO for AIG.

Also, Alexander Baugh, who had been president and CEO of Europe since Chartis was restructured last year, will become Chartis' chief risk officer and head of strategic planning. He'll report to Sid Sankaran, AIG’s chief risk officer.

“The simplified structure will permit closer coordination of the regions with the commercial and consumer teams, and it will allow us to put greater emphasis on growth economy nations by aligning them under our top regional executives," Peter Hancock, CEO of Chartis, said in a statement. Attempts to reach the company for additional comment were not immediately successful.

Last March, Chartis, the flagship property/casualty operation of American International Group, reorganized into two major global groups — commercial and consumer — with the supporting claims, actuarial, and underwriting disciplines integrated into these two major business operations. As part of that reorganization, the company divided into four principal geographic regions: U.S./Canada, led by Eastwood, who had been president of Lexington Insurance Co.; Europe, led by Baugh; Far East, led by Hernandez; and Growth Economies, led by Portalatin (Best's News Service, March 31, 2011).

Chartis U.S. Insurance Group currently has a Best's Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent).

(By Meg Green, senior associate editor, BestWeek: Meg.Green@ambest.com)