R&SA Names Andy Haste as New CEO, John Napier as Chairman

The U.K.’s Royal & Sun Alliance Group announced the appointment of Andy Haste as its new CEO and John Napier as its new Board Chairman, effective in April 2003.

Haste, 40, currently heads AXA Sun Life, and has a background in corporate finance. He will replace Bob Gunn, who’s been serving as acting CEO since last September when Bob Mendelsohn was forced out following an accumulation of poor operating results at R&SA.

Napier, 60, is currently chairman of the Kelda Group plc, a U.K. utility company. His expertise is in media and support services rather than the insurance industry.

The two men will take over the restructuring begun by Gunn to restore the U.K.’s second largest general insurer to financial health. It’s already begun a makeover and consolidation of its U.S. operations, and has been disposing of other holdings in an effort to bolster its capital, which has been battered by increasing reserve requirements, disaster losses and plummeting share values.