Swiss Re Downgrades Israel Management Presence as Local Head Steps Down
Swiss reinsurance giant Swiss Re is downgrading its management presence in Israel as Hillel Demlin steps down after 20 years, with no direct successor appointed to his country manager role.
The Swiss reinsurance giant Swiss Re is continuing to scale back its managerial and business presence in Israel. In an update email sent to its local partners, the company announced that Hillel Demlin, Head of Life & Health (L&H) operations in Israel, will step down from his position. The email noted that Demlin "has decided to retire from his role after more than 20 years at Swiss Re" and "will remain with the company until the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition."
Unlike routine personnel changes, Swiss Re Israel will not appoint a new country manager or CEO to fill the same position. Demlin's responsibilities will be assumed by Jonathan Zebulon, who currently serves as a Senior Client Manager at the company. The email stated that Zebulon "will take over the leadership of our Life & Health operations in Israel," but in practice, he will not be officially designated as the local head of operations. Regarding Zebulon, the company wrote that he "has been with Swiss Re for the past 15 years, holding various actuarial and client management roles across several markets and countries, with a primary focus on the Israeli market."
Strategic Retreat and Run-Off Operations
The downgrading of the managerial position in Israel aligns with Swiss Re's gradual withdrawal from the local life and health insurance market. In the past, the company classified Israel as an "underperforming market" and decided to place most of its health and disability reinsurance contracts with local insurance companies into a strict "run-off" track—a process of managing existing policies while completely halting the underwriting of new business.
This retreat reached its peak surrounding Swiss Re's demand to update agreements on old, unprofitable drug policies with Israeli insurance companies, led by The Phoenix. The company demanded changes to the agreement terms to allow pricing flexibility independent of regulatory approval.
Structural Changes and Shift to Switzerland
The current managerial move also follows workforce reductions carried out by Swiss Re in Israel in recent months. At the time, the company explained that the move stemmed from a structural reorganization, under which the portfolio management of several countries in the region would be handled directly from Switzerland. Now, the decision not to appoint a full-time successor to the country manager position in Israel practically demonstrates the transfer of managerial weight to the company's headquarters abroad.
Alongside the reduction in life and health insurance operations, Swiss Re sought to emphasize to its partners that activities in other sectors would remain unaffected. The letter explicitly stated:
"These changes will have no impact on our Property & Casualty (P&C) operations in Israel."
At the conclusion of the email, Augusto Diaz-Leante, Head of Market Units for Continental Europe at Swiss Re, addressed the work of the retiring manager and thanked Demlin for his 20 years of service to the company.
