Zurich Insurance Group has appointed three key senior members to its global commercial insurance accident and health (A&H) underwriting group.

Chris Howard joins as head of A&H in the US, Nicole Yates as head of A&H in Australia, and Stephane Baj as head of A&H in the UK and Multinational A&H.

These new additions come amid a reinforcement by Zurich of its A&H capabilities.

Howard joins the business from Zurich North America from WNC Insurance Services where he was president of the Accident and Health division.

Based in Melbourne, Yates re-joined Zurich Australia. Prior to joining, she worked at AXA XL where she led the Australian and New Zealand wholesale and retail A&H business.

Baj joined Zurich UK from Chubb where he spent 13 years and held numerous senior roles including head of A&H in France, regional director for Corporate and Affinity EMEA, and most recently head of Partnerships for Continental Europe.

Sierra Signorelli, chief underwriting officer, Commercial Insurance, said: “Accident and Health continues to be an attractive market with strong growth potential. Our large commercial customer base and strong global network combined with our underwriting expertise and unified product offering uniquely position Zurich to become a leading global provider in the A&H business.”

Drazen Jaksic, head of Accident and Health, added: “We are delighted to welcome Chris, Nicole and Stephane to the team. They are proven and highly experienced specialists in the A&H business. I am confident that their appointments will allow us to take the business to the next level in key markets.”