Former Boss Of Insurance Giant Kills Himself

The former chief executive of Swiss insurance giant Zurich has taken his own life, just three years after the company's then chief financial officer also killed himself.

Martin Senn ran Zurich for six years until last December when he quit, saying his time at the firm had been "very intense".

Local (Stuttgart: 19549987.SG - news) police in the east of Switzerland were alerted after being called to a holiday apartment in the ski resort town of Klosters.

Police spokesman for the Graubuenden region Roman Rueegg declined to comment on the suspected cause of death.

But Zurich Insurance said in a brief statement on Monday that "his family informed us that Martin took his life last Friday".

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) added that the company expressed "great shock and sadness" but would not be making any further comment "out of respect to Martin and to his family".

Mr Senn left Zurich after "mutual agreement" with the board.

At the time, he said: "There have been some setbacks in recent months, but I am convinced that we have put in place the right measures for Zurich to reach its targets."

A few months earlier, Zurich had shelved plans for a takeover of British rival RSA.

Carriermanagement.com said Mr Senn was paid 6.1m Swiss francs (£4.2m) by Zurich in 2015, down from 7.2 million Swiss francs (£5m) in 2014.

Three years ago, Zurich's then chief financial officer, Pierre Wauthier, killed himself.

Two independent inquiries undertaken by Swiss regulators found no indication that he had been subject to undue pressure by those in charge at the company.

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