Ex-Zurich Insurance CEO Martin Senn commits suicide

Incident comes 3 years after the company’s then-Chief Financial Officer Pierre Wauthier also killed himself.

Zurich Insurance Chief Executive Martin Senn attends the company's annual news conference in Zurich, Switzerland in this February 12, 2015 photo. Mr. Senn has died after committing suicide, the company said on Monday.

Switzerland’s Zurich Insurance Group says former Chief Executive Martin Senn, who ran the company for six years until last December, has killed himself. The incident comes three years after the company’s then-Chief Financial Officer also killed himself.

Local police in the eastern Graubuenden region were called to the scene on Friday at a holiday resort apartment in the town of Klosters, near Davos, said regional police spokesman Roman Rueegg. He declined comment on the suspected cause of death.

Company in ‘great shock and sadness’

Expressing its “great shock and sadness,” Zurich Insurance said in a brief statement Monday that “his family informed us that Martin took his life last Friday.” The company said it would not be making any further comment, “out of respect to Martin and to his family.”

Mr. Senn, a Swiss national, was 59. He departed as CEO at the end of last year, saying that there had been “some setbacks in recent months” but the company was in good shape.

Ex-CFO also killed self

Three years ago, Zurich’s then Chief Financial Officer, Pierre Wauthier, also killed himself. Two independent probes directed by Swiss regulators found no indication that he had been subject to undue pressure by decision-makers at the company.

The 144-year-old company, one of the world’s leading multi-line insurers, has some 55,000 employees worldwide and customers in more than 170 countries.