Zurich Financial Services has decided to replace retiring CEO James Schiro with an insider – CFO Martin Senn – from January 1.

Mr Schiro will sign off at the end of the year after taking charge of the company amid a period of financial turmoil in May 2002. He went on to deliver 26 straight quarterly profits.

In a statement announcing Mr Senn as the CEO-in-waiting, Mr Schiro said he is “proud of how we have proactively managed our way through this global economic downturn, strengthening our financial position while capitalising on opportunities”.

Not that he had much to smile about last week, announcing a 53% fall in first-half net profit of $US1.25 billion ($1.49 billion), a result of falling investment income.

Investment earnings slid 39% to $US2.44 billion ($2.9 billion) due to a number of writedowns that contributed to a net profit figure well short of the $US2.68 billion ($3.19 billion) Zurich earned in the first half of last year.

General insurance gross written premium fell 11% during the period to $US18.2 billion ($21.7 billion) while the combined ratio was stable at 96.2%.