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.“