Zurich’s appointment of Tim Plant as its CEO General Insurance for Australia and New Zealand is the latest in a remarkable set of moves for the highly regarded insurance executive.

Mr Plant’s move to Zurich in August will see him taking up his third top-level role at a major insurance player in as many years.

He was appointed CEO at QBE’s Australia and New Zealand Operations in August 2015 and in March last year joined NSW Government insurer icare, where he is currently Group Executive Insurance for NSW, Community and Innovation.

As reported in a Breaking News bulletin last week, Mr Plant will join Zurich on August 7, replacing Raj Nanra, who left suddenly in April.

Chris Waterman, the Singapore-based Head of Commercial Insurance Asia-Pacific, has overseen the Australian business on an interim basis.

Zurich Asia Pacific CEO Jack Howell says Mr Plant brings “significant industry experience and a strong focus on innovation and customer centricity”.

He has more than 25 years’ experience across insurance, reinsurance and financial services, including more than a decade with QBE.

It’s possibly a reflection on the scarcity of talented top-level insurance executives in Australia that Mr Plant was appointed to icare by MD Vivek Bhatia, who was appointed in January to the role at QBE that Mr Plant had left some 16 months before.

A spokesman for icare told insuranceNEWS.com.au the process to replace Mr Plant is already under way.