Former Zurich global CEO Martin Senn died last Friday in an apparent suicide.  

Mr Senn, who was 59, resigned from Zurich in December after the company had suffered a series of setbacks through the year. He worked for Zurich for 10 years, the last six years as CEO.

The group’s third-quarter net profit last year fell 79% to $US256 million ($356 million), prompting restructures and retrenchments in Australia, the UK, the US and Switzerland.

Zurich also abandoned plans to take over British insurer RSA and withdrew from parts of the Singapore and United Arab Emirates markets.

The company said in a statement last night that Mr Senn’s family had informed it that “Martin took his own life on Friday”.

Media reports say Mr Senn’s body was found in his holiday home in the Swiss town of Klosters.

It’s the second high-level suicide to rock Zurich in the past few years. In 2013 CFO Pierre Wauthier was found dead in his home, and chairman Josef Ackermann resigned over comments about him in a suicide note.

In March, former Zurich executive Mario Greco resigned from Italian insurer Generali to become Zurich’s Global CEO.

Mr Senn was the subject of a cover story in Insurance News in October 2014.

More details in our regular bulletin on Monday.

People in Australia seeking support can contact Lifelife on 13 11 14 (www.lifeline.org.au).