Patrick Thiels and Frédéric Baccelli to lead Allianz Commercial in France

News | March 31, 2023 | Paris

Allianz today announced Patrick Thiels has been appointed Country Managing Director for Allianz Commercial in France. Frédéric Baccelli has also been appointed Deputy Country Managing Director for Allianz Commercial in France. In their new role, they will be leading jointly the new integrated approach of Allianz SE in the commercial insurance business, bringing together Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) France, which focuses on large clients, and Allianz France operations serving mid-sized country-based accounts under one strategy and approach.  

Allianz Commercial will feature one face to the market in each country or region, simplifying the experience of clients and distribution partners to represent the business for both mid-sized and large businesses. Patrick Thiels will be reporting to AGCS CEO Joachim Mueller and Fabien Wathlé, CEO of Allianz France. He will lead the new integrated approach between AGCS’ and Allianz France’s underwriting and distribution teams in the commercial insurance segment. Patrick Thiels will retain responsibility for the wider AGCS Mediterranean, Africa & Middle-East Region.  

Patrick Thiels has been with AGCS for over 10 years, most recently as Managing Director Regional Unit Mediterranean, Africa & Middle East since January 2021.  Prior to that, he was Global Head of Distribution, Sales and Marketing and Regional CEO for Mediterranean, France & Benelux. Patrick joined AGCS in 2013 as CEO of the Mediterranean Region from HDI-Gerling. The Belgian national is a non-executive Board Member of Allianz Benelux since 2016 and of Allianz Saudi Fransi since 2022. He graduated in Finance accountancy and post-graduated in Insurance Management and HR Management. 

Frédéric Baccelli graduated from the Engineering School Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées as well as the Political Science Institute of Paris. He began his career in 1997 at Allianz France, as Head of the Technical Risks Division of the International Department. In 1999, he became Allianz France correspondent for large corporate risks within Allianz Insurance Company, based in the USA. In 2021, he was appointed Managing Director of Protexia France, the group's legal protection subsidiary, and from 2007, Managing Director of Carene, Allianz France's captive broker. In 2010, Frédéric became Managing Director of Allianz Africa, in charge of 17 subsidiaries in 12 countries. Since 2018, he has been responsible of Allianz France's Midcorp activities and of the “Ecosystem” dedicated to Commercial lines. 

AGCS CEO Joachim Mueller comments: “Patrick Thiels and Frédéric Baccelli will play a key role going forward to bring Allianz Commercial to life in the French market. The powerful, integrated approach in a global model combined with strong local execution and delivery will help us to unleash our full potential in targeting new business opportunities and providing new solutions and a wider offering to our customers across the full commercial segment.” 

Allianz France CEO Fabien Wathlé comments: “Allianz Commercial is a major evolution to reinforce our service to large and mid-sized businesses. It also provides facilitated interactions with the brokers we work with. By combining our technical expertise on the Mid Corporate, Large Corporate and Specialty markets, we will offer our clients extended insurance solutions to help them face today’s risk environment.“ 

Patrick Thiels
Patrick Thiels has been with AGCS for over 10 years, most recently as Managing Director Regional Unit Mediterranean, Africa & Middle East since January 2021. Prior to that, he was Global Head of Distribution, Sales and Marketing and Regional CEO for Mediterranean, France & Benelux. Patrick joined AGCS in 2013 as CEO of the Mediterranean Region from HDI-Gerling. The Belgian national is a non-executive Board Member of Allianz Benelux since 2016 and of Allianz Saudi Fransi since 2022. He graduated in Finance accountancy and post-graduated in Insurance Management and HR Management. 
Frédéric Baccelli
Graduate from the Engineering School Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées as well as the Political Science Institute of Paris. He began his career in 1997 at Allianz France, as Head of the Technical Risks Division of the International Department. In 1999, he became Allianz France correspondent for large corporate risks within Allianz Insurance Company, based in the USA. In 2021, he was appointed Managing Director of Protexia France, the group's legal protection subsidiary, and from 2007, Managing Director of Carene, Allianz France's captive broker. In 2010, Frédéric became Managing Director of Allianz Africa, in charge of 17 subsidiaries in 12 countries. Since 2018, he has been responsible of Allianz France's Midcorp activities and of the “Ecosystem” dedicated to Commercial lines.
Additional appointments have been made in the other countries in the initial launch of Allianz Commercial: Australia, Germany and the UK.
Estelle Ardouin
Phone: +33-676-1211-36
E-mail: estelle.ardouin@allianz.com
Florence Claret
Phone: +33-158-858-863
E-mail: florence.claret@allianz.com
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The Allianz Group is one of the world's leading insurers and asset managers with more than 122 million* private and corporate customers in more than 70 countries. Allianz customers benefit from a broad range of personal and corporate insurance services, ranging from property, life and health insurance to assistance services to credit insurance and global business insurance. Allianz is one of the world’s largest investors, managing around 683 billion euros** on behalf of its insurance customers. Furthermore, our asset managers PIMCO and Allianz Global Investors manage about 1.6 trillion euros of third-party assets. Thanks to our systematic integration of ecological and social criteria in our business processes and investment decisions, we are among the leaders in the insurance industry in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. In 2022, over 159,000 employees achieved total revenues of 152.7 billion euros and an operating profit of 14.2 billion euros for the group.

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* Including non-consolidated entities with Allianz customers. 
** As of Dec 31, 2022

Allianz Commercial is the center of expertise and global line of Allianz Group for insuring mid-sized businesses, large enterprises and specialist risks. Among our customers are the world’s largest consumer brands, financial institutions and industry players, the global aviation and shipping industry, as well as family-owned and medium enterprises, which are the backbone of the economy. We also cover unique risks such as offshore wind parks, infrastructure projects or Hollywood film productions.

Powered by the employees, financial strength, and network of the world’s #1 insurance brand Allianz, as ranked by Interbrand, we work together to help our customers prepare for what’s ahead: They trust us to provide a wide range of traditional and alternative risk transfer solutions, outstanding risk consulting and multinational services as well as seamless claims handling.

The trade name Allianz Commercial brings together the large corporate insurance business of Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) and the commercial insurance business of national Allianz Property & Casualty entities serving mid-sized companies. We are present in over 200 countries and territories either though our own teams or the Allianz Group network and partners. In 2023, the integrated business of Allianz Commercial generated around €18 billion in gross premium globally.

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