A UK media report says QBE is “lining up former Aon UK CEO Peter Harmer to succeed Frank O’Halloran as group CEO”.

The Insurance Insider newsletter does not name a source for its report, which was published on Friday. QBE told insuranceNEWS.com.au today that it “does not comment on market speculation”.

Mr Harmer resigned suddenly in June last year to return to Australia. He said at the time that progress in implementing the UK division’s restructuring “has allowed me to return home a little sooner than originally planned”.

An Aon source in Sydney told insuranceNEWS.com.au at the time that Mr Harmer would take up a “significant” role in Australia, but it’s understood he has since left the company.

The Insurance Insider report says Mr O’Halloran had been expected to choose his successor from inside the group, “with COO Vince McLenaghan, European head Steven Burns and US boss John Rumpler locked in a three-horse race”.

But it says headhunters also “combed the market for suitable external candidates”.

The report fails to note that earlier this month Mr McLenaghan gave up the COO position to become CEO of a newly expanded Australia-Asia-Pacific division.

Mr Harmer, 51, a Harvard Business School graduate and former soldier, ran Aon Australia from 2000-2007 before moving to the UK to turn around Aon’s struggling British operations.

He earned accolades from the London business media for negotiating a 30% reduction in a multi-million pound fine from the financial regulator. His leadership and communication skills, as well as his ability to make tough decisions, were also highly valued, and in April 2007 he was appointed to the high-profile chairmanship of the Lloyd’s Market Reform Group.

When Mr Harmer quit last year to return to Australia, Aon Corporation President Greg Case acknowledged Mr Harmer’s “extraordinary leadership and efforts both in the UK and as a key player on the global Aon stage”.