Zurich CFO’s Widow to Confront Insurer at Annual assembly

Seven months after the suicide of Zurich insurance finance chief Pierre Wauthier, his widow is ready to confront the organisation over its dealing with of the tragedy, reopening a scandal that unsettled investors.

inside the first vast interview for the reason that her husband’s loss of life final August, Fabienne Wauthier told Reuters she would attend Zurich’s annual preferred assembly (AGM) on Wednesday – at the side of her daughter and her past due husband’s mom and brother – to voice concerns about how a probe into the suicide turned into performed.

She says she is disenchanted with the research, commissioned by way of Switzerland’s economic regulator FINMA and performed through law firm Homburger.

throughout the Homburger probe, Wauthier’s widow has said she become never approached by using the regulation company, which has previously carried out work for Zurich and was asked with the aid of FINMA to check out whether or not the CFO had come underneath “undue stress”. It concluded he had now not.

Josef Ackermann, the Zurich chairman who stepped down after being mentioned in certainly one of  suicide notes left via the 53-yr-vintage government, had defined Wauthier’s demise as a “very tragic event” however denied duty for it.

sources who noticed the word said it blamed Ackermann for growing an insufferable paintings surroundings.

Mrs. Wauthier, a fifty five-12 months-old French lady who has stated little in public since the loss of life, said she wanted the company to reconsider whether the probe turned into complete, to explain why Ackermann resigned if he did no longer be given blame and why details of anxiety at work have been no longer made public after it pledged to inspect the allegations made in the suicide word. “We are not going there for money nor revenge,” she introduced.

Zurich spokesman Angel Serna, when requested for touch upon Mrs. Wauthier’s version of activities, stated: “we are nevertheless saddened by using what has occurred, and we are able to never recognize the reasons for his irreversible choice.”

Heinz Schaerer, a senior associate at Homburger who led the probe, declined to comment. FINMA additionally declined to comment on information of how the research become done.

Wauthier’s appearance at the AGM comes at an uncomfortable time for Zurich coverage, a conservative 142-year vintage enterprise that has spent the beyond 1/2 year looking to restore calm and reassure traders inside the wake of the suicide.

“we have asked Zurich to do the proper component,” said Mrs. Wauthier, who spoke to Reuters for more than 4 hours on the circle of relatives domestic in Walchwil, a 19th-century lakefront guesthouse that Pierre first spotted when out strolling.

pictures and mementos around the house paint the photo of a nicely-travelled, near-knit own family adjusting to children leaving – a daughter analyzing at Cambridge university and a son in California, wherein the Wauthiers lived until 2007.

Emotional at instances, she spoke approximately events main up to the demise and discovered information, inclusive of an alert to the human sources branch earlier than her husband’s suicide, that have no longer previously been pronounced.

Reuters approached more than a dozen those who worked closely with Wauthier, consisting of Ackermann, who all declined to remark. As a result, Reuters became unable to corroborate the info of his widow’s account.

HR ALERTED OF stress

by means of June last year, Mrs. Wauthier stated her husband had turn out to be disenchanted with the ecosystem at Zurich.

He started to question whether he desired to live in a post he had long seen as his “dream task” and decided to discreetly forged round for alternatives outdoor Zurich.

In July, he met with the human sources branch, which Mrs. Wauthier and two assets familiar with the matter stated were alerted via his crew that he become affected by immoderate strain.

He advised HR team of workers he became feeling the stress but was hoping to recover in the course of two weeks of summer time vacations he could soon take.

The Zurich spokesman stated: “We did now not have any indication that Pierre turned into considering this type of step (suicide). If we had, we might have without delay taken movement.”

In August, agency assets stated Wauthier and Ackermann clashed over the presentation of economic desires with the insurer’s second-area profits.

To the outdoor world, Wauthier helped present the earnings figures in mid-August with the pleasant professionalism he was recognized for.

but he had by using then already decided he would depart the insurer, in keeping with his widow.

His attempts to discover some other role outside Zurich by no means were given off the floor, in large part because Wauthier became putting in such lengthy hours that he determined little time to look elsewhere.

The CFO informed his spouse he could quit even with out a new activity.

however hours earlier than he killed himself he instructed his wife, who become in la supporting their son get settled at Pepperdine college, that he wanted to look forward to a “region with exact results” earlier than departing.

for the duration of that nearly hour-long communique, she says he gave no sign he changed into distraught enough to contemplate suicide.

the next day, Wauthier was observed lifeless at domestic. Ackermann resigned 3 days later, announcing he believed Wauthier’s own family desired him to achieve this.

Zurich has answered to Ms. Wauthier’s fees, defending the report it issued into the CFO’s suicide.

Zurich stated an research into the suicide of its finance leader had been careful and conclusive, deflecting complaint of the probe by way of the CFO’s widow.

“I think it’s critical and i’m thankful that the responsible authorities and we investigated his movement carefully and conclusively,” Chairman Tom de Swaan said on the begin of the assembly.

Wauthier’s widow Fabienne, followed via her daughter, mother-in-regulation and brother-in-law, listened to de Swaan’s feedback from seats near the the front. In an interview with Reuters published on Tuesday she stated she might express worries about how the research into her overdue husband’s dying turned into performed.