Insurance companies and industry organisations have announced leadership changes across the Middle East, Southeast Asia, the Philippines, and India, covering underwriting, claims, financial examination, and actuarial oversight.
Antarah, the managing general agency (MGA) subsidiary of The Ardonagh Group, has appointed Antonio El Hokayem as CEO, subject to customary regulatory approvals.
El Hokayem joins from Gallagher, where he held several positions since 2022, including financial lines director for the Middle East and Africa and head of specialty for Saudi Arabia. He previously spent three years at Zurich as a financial lines underwriter and began his insurance career as a broker at Chedid Re.
His appointment places an executive with experience in underwriting, placement, and portfolio management at the helm of Antarah’s Middle East and Africa operations.
Antarah is an authorised Lloyd’s of London Coverholder and operates as an MGA and reinsurance intermediary focused on Middle East and African territories. Its multi-line proposition uses binding authorities and Lloyd’s of London capacity.
Ardonagh Group CEO David Ross said: “Antonio’s appointment represents a significant step in the development of the group’s proposition across the Middle East and Africa, a market where we are seeing continued demand for sophisticated specialty solutions.”
El Hokayem said the business would focus on developing specialist capabilities across the region and exploring technology and AI-enabled underwriting capabilities. “Our ambition is clear: to build a leading multi-line specialty MGA across the Middle East and Africa, developing specialist capabilities that respond directly to the needs of clients across the region,” he said.
He added that the business would explore how technology and AI-enabled underwriting could support decision-making and underwriting efficiency.
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Claims services provider McLarens has appointed Ollie Waterman (pictured) as regional director, Middle East, effective October 1. He succeeds Malcolm Addy, who will retire at the end of 2026.
Waterman previously served as commercial development director, Middle East, and will take overall responsibility for the regional operation. Mahesh Ganesan, operations director, Middle East, will continue in his role.
A Chartered Loss Adjuster, Waterman built his career handling major and complex losses in the London market before relocating to Dubai in 2022. He subsequently became head of property for the Middle East at a global adjusting firm, where he was responsible for large losses across the region, financial management, and team leadership.
His new role covers McLarens’ core practice areas of property and casualty, construction and engineering, and marine and specialty lines. He will also work alongside McLarens Aviation and Lloyd Warwick International (LWI) operations in the region.
Waterman will also connect the Middle East operation with McLarens’ London and broader EMEA teams.
Steven Wallace, managing director, EMEA, said: “Malcolm has been instrumental in establishing McLarens as a serious player in the Middle East, and we thank him for his significant contribution. Ollie is a natural practitioner leader – he brings exactly the combination of technical depth, commercial instinct, and regional knowledge this role demands.”
Waterman said his focus would be on bringing McLarens’ teams and capabilities closer together across the region.
Markel Insurance has appointed Kevin Leung as managing director, Southeast Asia, with immediate effect, following its decision to bring its Singapore and Malaysia operations under a unified Southeast Asia structure.
Leung moves into the role from his position as chief underwriting officer, Asia Pacific. Markel said recruitment for his successor is underway.
He will oversee operations in Singapore and Malaysia and report to Sucheng Chang, managing director of Asia Pacific. Jasminder Kaur will remain country head of Malaysia, retaining responsibility for the day-to-day running of that business.
The new structure brings the two markets under a single Southeast Asia leadership role while retaining country-level management in Malaysia.
Chang said: “Bringing our Singapore and Malaysia teams together strengthens our ability to serve brokers and clients by creating a more connected and coordinated regional platform.”
Leung has more than 25 years of insurance industry experience. He joined Markel in 2023 as chief underwriting officer, Asia Pacific, having previously held senior leadership positions at Swiss Re, Catlin, ACE Group, and AIG.
He said the combined structure would allow the business to deploy underwriting expertise across the two markets.
The Philippines’ Insurance Commission (IC) has appointed Nikolai Buncio as deputy insurance commissioner, where he will head the regulator’s Financial Examination Group, according to Philstar.
Buncio joined the Insurance Commission on September 7 after a career spanning banking and government. His most recent position was senior director and head of transaction banking at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ), a role he held from March 2018.
Before that, he served as director for transaction banking, corporate and institutional banking, and non-bank financial institutions from July 2017 to March 2018.
His banking experience also includes positions at Deutsche Bank Manila AG, Standard Chartered Bank, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America in California.
Buncio previously worked in government as senior political affairs officer to then-Sen. Robert Jaworski from June 1998 to January 2001.
He holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of the Philippines.
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In India, Dinesh Pant’s appointment as a whole-time director, actuary, at the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has reduced the number of serving managing directors at Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to two, according to Business Standard.
Pant received voluntary retirement from LIC before taking the IRDAI position. LIC has four MD posts in addition to its MD and CEO position.
One MD position has been vacant since Sat Pal Bhanoo retired on December 31, 2025. Following Pant’s departure, Ratnakar Patnaik and R Chander remain as LIC’s two serving MDs alongside MD and CEO R Doraiswamy.
Doraiswamy said during LIC’s Q1 FY27 earnings media call: “We have taken up the vacancies with the government and expect them to be filled soon.”
The LIC Act allows a maximum of four MDs, although Business Standard reported that it does not require all positions to be filled at all times. In October 2025, the government opened one MD position to eligible candidates from the private and public sectors.
Pant’s appointment also adds a fifth whole-time member to IRDAI. The regulator’s existing whole-time members are Swaminathan Iyer, member, life; Deepak Sood, member, non-life; Girija Subramanian, member, distribution; and Rajay Sinha, member, finance. Ajay Seth is IRDAI’s chairman.
LIC reported total premium income of ₹5.36 trillion in FY26 and assets under management of ₹57.29 trillion.
The leadership changes come as the Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB), which recommends appointments to boards of state-owned financial institutions, has operated without a chairman since Bhanu Pratap Sharma’s term ended in June 2026. Business Standard also reported vacancies among non-government members.
