Zurich Malaysia has appointed Mukesh Dhawan as CEO of Zurich Takaful Malaysia Bhd (ZTMB), effective March 01, 2019. He succeeds Salim Majid Zain, who left the company in January 2019, and will report to ZTMB’s board of directors.

In this role, Dhawan will be responsible for executing Zurich’s strategy and expanding its family takaful business in Malaysia. He has over 18 years’ experience in the Asian insurance industry, having held various senior management and strategic roles in major insurers such as Prudential Corporation Asia, AIG and AIA.

Dhawan joined Zurich Malaysia in January 2015 as the general manager and head of market management. During his tenure, he drove profitable growth for the company’s life insurance and family takaful businesses, a statement from Zurich said.

“Given Mukesh’s extensive and well-rounded market experience, we did not have to look further to find a successor for the ZTMB CEO position,” said Stephen Clark, executive director of ZTMB and CEO of Zurich Life Insurance Malaysia. “Mukesh’s appointment reinforces Zurich’s aim to build a merit-based culture that seeks to develop and promote talents from within the organisation; providing opportunities for employees to advance and help them reach their full potential. I look forward to working closely with Mukesh in scaling our family takaful business to greater heights.”