BaFin is becoming more female: Julia Wiens will take over as head of the Insurance and Pension Fund Supervision Division on 1 January 2024, succeeding Dr Frank Grund, who is retiring at the age of 65.
With this appointment, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) is relying on an experienced expert from the insurance sector and for the first time is filling the positions of Executive Director on a parity basis.
"With Julia Wiens, we have been able to attract a first-class appointment to head the insurance and pensions supervision," says BaFin President Mark Branson. "She not only brings the necessary technical expertise for the job, she is also a proven leader. This makes her just the right person when it comes to further strengthening insurance supervision," Branson emphasises. In the future, he also wants to place a strong focus in supervision on consumer protection in products and their distribution.
Julia Wiens brings almost 30 years of experience in the insurance sector. A mathematics graduate and trained actuary, she began her career in life insurance at Securitas Gilde in 1994. In 2006, she moved to Deutscher Ring as head of department for actuarial analyses in the non-life sector. From 2009 until today, she held various management roles at Baloise (formerly Basler Versicherungen) in Germany, e.g. Head of Actuarial Non-Life and Industrial Client Services as well as Head of Risk Control. Most recently, she was responsible for the two board departments of life insurance and finance / investments.
The 53-year-old Wiens is looking forward to her new task: "For me, the change from a supervised company to supervision is exciting and challenging at the same time. A change of perspective, where I can incorporate my experience and help shape the modernisation path taken by BaFin."
Dr Frank Grund is retiring from BaFin at the end of September. During his eight years in office, he accompanied a paradigm shift in insurance supervision with the introduction of Solvency II. Until Julia Wiens takes up her post, Axel Oster, Head of Department in the Insurance Supervision Division, will take over as acting head of the division.
Foto: BaFin
Anke Dembowski is a financial journalist and author of various investment fund-related and other financial books. She is also a co-founder of the "Fondsfrauen" network.