Covéa unveils board line-up

Covéa Insurance has unveiled its new board of directors following the merger of MMA and Provident Insurance last month.

New chief executive James Reader will head up a seven-strong team, including Colin Batabyal, Clive Bryant, Laurent Eckert, Adrian Furness, Carol Geldard, Simon Kneller and Steven Whittaker.

Batabyal becomes personal lines director, having previously been underwriting director for MMA. Batabyal has more than 35 years’ experience in the industry and began his career with Municipal Mutual in 1977. His previous roles include director at Esure Insurance and chief executive of First Alternative. Batabyal is also fulfilling the role of commercial lines director until a permanent appointment is made.

Bryant has been appointed IT and business services director having previously acted as business services director for MMA, a position he had held since 2002. Bryant has more than 25 years’ experience in the sector and 30 years of IT systems and operations experience.

Eckert becomes chief risk officer having previously been head of Solvency II for Covéa International, a position he had held since September 2011. Eckert has more than 20 years’ experience and has held various actuarial and executive roles with French insurers GAN, Groupama and April Group.

Furness has been appointed claims director. He was previously operations director for Provident Insurance and before that worked in a variety of claims management roles for both AGF and Endsleigh. Furness joined Provident in June 1995 and undertook a variety of claims and customer service management roles. 

Geldard has been made marketing and communications director. She was previously a member of Provident Insurance’s executive team and has worked in the insurance industry for more than 20 years, having previously worked for Green Flag/UKI for 10 years.

Kneller is now actuarial director within the group having been deputy managing director of Provident Insurance since 2006. He has worked in the industry for more than 20 years, previously in actuarial roles for both Sphere Drake and St Pauls International. He joined Provident in July 1996 as personal lines manager. He was appointed actuarial director in June 2000.

Whittaker remains as finance director having held the same role for MMA prior to the merger with Provident. He has worked in the sector for more than 28 years and was appointed finance director at MMA in 1996, having joined the company in 1988 from English & American Group as finance manager.

Reader said: “Since we launched Covéa Insurance at the beginning of October we have had a really positive response from the marketplace. We are ambitious and the new executive team will play a fundamental role in driving our business forward while ensuring we continue to deliver the same great products and offer the same great service that our brokers rightly expect.”