John French will return to Australia, where he began his insurance career with Ace, to become the company’s Country President of Australia and New Zealand. 

He replaces Giles Ward, who has been appointed to run a newly formed business region for the company called Eurasia and Africa.

Mr French is currently Country President of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau and takes up his new Sydney-based posting on April 15.

He joined Ace as a business development manager in the late 1990s and went to Singapore as Country President in 2003, moving to Thailand in 2005 and taking up the Hong Kong role in 2007.

Mr Ward will operate from a new regional headquarters, based initially in London.

The new region includes Ace’s existing operations in Russia, Turkey, Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Tunisia and South Africa, and “will encompass future expansion in a broad swathe of territory that stretches from the Black Sea to the Middle East to the African continent”, according to the company.

Mr Ward joined Ace in 2006 to lead the company’s business in the Middle East and North Africa. He was appointed to the Sydney-based role in 2010.