Swiss Life Holding AG (SLHN.VX) said Wednesday its board appointed Thomas Buess as the Swiss Life Group's new Chief Financial Officer and Member of the Corporate Executive Board.

The 52-year-old economist will join Swiss Life from the Allianz Group (AZ) where he is currently Head of Operational Transformation. Prior to this, he held various management roles at Zurich Financial Services Group over the course of fifteen years, including the positions of CFO and COO in Switzerland and abroad.

Thomas Buess has a broad range of experience in the insurance industry on a national and international level. Following his studies in business administration and economics at the University of St. Gallen and a research position at the Institute of International Economics, he began his insurance career at the former ELVIA Group.

In 1994 Thomas Buess joined Zurich Financial Services (ZURN.VX) as Chief Financial Officer and Member of the Executive Committee of the Swiss P&C business unit, and, in 1997, was promoted to Chief Financial Officer of all Swiss operations.

In 1999 he became the Chief Financial Officer of Zurich's North America business unit in the US. He subsequently assumed the position of Group Chief Financial Officer and Member of the Group Management Board. He was Chief Operating Officer of Zurich Financial Services Global Life and responsible for the turnaround of the life insurance business throughout the Group before moving to the Allianz Group.

Thomas Buess will take up his new position at the Swiss Life Group in the course of the third quarter of 2009. He succeeds Thomas Müller, who, as previously announced, is leaving the company at the end of June 2009.

"Thomas Buess is an experienced CFO and insurance manager who will strengthen our management team," commented Bruno Pfister, Chief Executive Officer. "With his in-depth knowledge of the international life insurance business and his wide-ranging experience of managing transformation processes, especially with regard to productivity and efficiency improvements and the shift towards unit-linked life insurance products, he will make a significant contribution to our Group's further success."

Company Web Site: http://www.swisslife.com

-Zurich Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; +41 43 443 8040; zurichdjnews@dowjones.com