Zurich Insurance, a part of Zurich Financial Services Group, has appointed Mark Cooper as its new head of commercial lines for the general insurance business and Wolfgang Errath as head of banks & partners for the general insurance business, in the Middle East, targeting the middle market and SME segments.

Cooper will be responsible for building a team that will develop wholesale and retail propositions across multiple distribution channels throughout the region.

Cooper will join Zurich from the RSA Insurance, where he spent 15 years of his career. Cooper’s most recent role was as CEO for Al Alamiya Cooperative Insurance in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where he oversaw its launch as a public company and subsequent listing on the Saudi Stock Exchange.

Wolfgang Errath will join the Middle East team as head of banks & partners for the general insurance business. He will be responsible for widening and managing the distribution network to incorporate banks and other potential partners such as affinity groups.

Errath will lead the expansion of distribution channels across all customer segments and will be responsible for developing valuable propositions and solutions to meet the insurance requirements of Zurich’s selected partner.

Errath has been with Zurich since 2005. An Austrian national, he was previously based in Europe where he was recently responsible for chief risk officer for Central and Eastern Europe and change manager for Group Risk Management at Corporate Center.