Lloyd’s Regional Head of Australia and New Zealand Chris Mackinnon will start a new position on April 1 as Regional Director for the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA) markets, taking over from Iain Ferguson who is retiring at the end of the year.

Mr Mackinnon, who is based in Sydney, will move to Singapore when he commences his role, Lloyd’s says in an internal email to its employees seen by insuranceNEWS.com.au.

Lloyd’s expects to announce Mr Mackinnon’s replacement in the coming weeks.

Mr Mackinnon’s appointment is part of a planned succession by Lloyd’s, after the business announced last year that he would deputise for Mr Ferguson, who will remain in his other role as Lloyd’s Japan President until December 31.

Mr Mackinnon will report to UK-based Commercial Director Dawn Miller in his new role, which includes responsibility for Australia and New Zealand.

“This change is planned well in advance to allow for a smooth transition of management responsibility. Chris takes on the role with a wealth of experience behind him,” Ms Miller said in her email to employees about Mr Mackinnon’s appointment.

Mr Mackinnon joined Lloyd’s in February 2015 as General Representative for Australia and New Zealand, after 27 years in the international insurance broking industry, in London and Sydney. Last year he was appointed Lloyd’s Deputy Regional Director for APMEA.

Under Mr Mackinnon’s watch, Lloyd’s has grown its Australia business from about $2 billion worth of premium written in 2015 to slightly over $4.6 billion last year, and the number of coverholders has increased from 90 to more than 160.

The team has also expanded, from just three to 13 over the same period.

“It’s nine years since I’ve joined and we’ve had significant market growth,” Mr Mackinnon told insuranceNEWS.com.au today.

“Probably to me the thing I am most proud of in my nine years is the team of people I’ve built at Lloyd’s Australia.

“We’ve got an extraordinary group of people who are incredibly talented and passionate about what they do. I think that for a market the size of Australia to only have 13 people and managing $4.6 billion worth of transactions that go through says an awful lot about the team of people that we’ve been able to build.”

On his new role, Mr Mackinnon says he will still be running Australia and New Zealand “but we will have local managers who look after things on the ground like I am at the moment”.

“Australia is by far the largest territory that we have within the whole of APMEA and I’m going to dedicate a lot of my time to making sure that we continue the momentum we’ve built here.”