Frenchwoman Claire-Marie Coste-Lepoutre, 48, will become Allianz’s new chief financial officer. She replaces Giulio Terzariol, 51, who is moving to rival Generali, the largest insurer in his home country of Italy. Terzariol will go to Trieste on January 1, 2024 and will be responsible for the entire insurance business within the group. In a few years he could inherit Generali boss Philippe Donnet, 63.
Terzariol leaves a big gap. He enjoys the trust of investors and stock analysts and a high reputation within his own company. For the Allianz leadership under Oliver Bäte – whose contract has just been extended until 2028 – the share price is probably the most important measure of success or failure. Coste-Lepoutre will be closely watched in the future. The fact that the company is appointing a woman as its chief financial officer will be well received by many major investors. They are pushing financial groups in particular to have more diversity in leadership.
At McKinsey she probably met the current Allianz boss Bäte
Coste-Lepoutre studied mathematics at a military academy but has no military training. She later completed her degree as an actuary in Lyon, which is additional training in actuarial science. She began her career at the reinsurers Swiss Re and Scor before moving to the management consultancy McKinsey in 2004. There she probably met the current Allianz boss Bäte, who, like her, advised insurers at McKinsey.
In 2011 she moved to Allianz, worked for some time in Munich, was later responsible for France, Benelux and Africa and in 2019 became CFO of the ailing industrial insurer Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS).
She is highly credited within the group for leading the loss-making company back into the profit zone together with AGCS boss Joachim Müller. This was a good recommendation for higher orders at the corporate level. In June 2023 it went to the parent company Allianz SE.
“Unpretentious, competent, straightforward and consistent,” is how Allianz employees describe her. She is a family man; Coste-Lepoutre has two children. In her working life she only communicates in English and French, although in everyday life she is said to be able to speak German fairly well.