Allianz Commercial UK supercharges Southern structure with two appointments

Posted: 14 August 2023

Allianz Commercial has confirmed the appointment of Simon Hanley as regional manager, South and announced that Caroline Donati will join Allianz as branch manager, Southampton in October.

Simon will be responsible for the implementation of underwriting strategy and growth of the region (Chelmsford, Maidstone and Southampton) as well as leading the teams and managing the operational and service delivery for brokers and customers. He’ll work in partnership with Distribution to deliver the best of Allianz to the South.
Simon Hanley
Simon Hanley

Reporting to Simon, as Southampton branch manager Caroline will join the regional senior leadership team and be responsible for the growth strategy and development of the branch. She will also manage the professional development of team members to ensure continued superior service and maximise expertise.

Simon joined Allianz in 2005 as a business developer and has held a number of roles across the Commercial business including key account manager and distribution manager. As strategic account manager he was responsible for engagement with some of Allianz’s largest broker partners and in his most recent role he oversaw the development and growth of Chelmsford as branch manager. He has been on secondment to the role of regional manager, South since February 2022.

Caroline will be joining Allianz in October and brings an impressive 20 years of broker market experience through roles with RSA, Axa and most recently Aviva.  

As senior broker development manager for Aviva she led a team of business development managers across London and surrounding areas as well as holding strategic account management responsibilities for selected key partners.

Dave Carey, managing director, mid-market, Allianz Commercial commented:

“I’m passionate about developing my Mid-Market team, using Allianz’s existing strengths as a springboard to push ourselves to deliver even better outcomes for our brokers and customers. Our regional managers are critical in driving forward our growth ambitions and Simon has played a key part already. I’m really looking forward to working with him further as our strategy develops.

dave carey

“I look forward to welcoming Caroline to the team. She brings with her extensive market experience and established relationships with our Broker Partners, I know she is going to be a fantastic addition to our Southern team.

My thanks to David Trott for his many years of service in Southampton, he has built a successful and vibrant business and I wish him a happy retirement; Caroline is the perfect addition to take over the reins, to build and capitalise on Southampton’s success.”


The information contained in this press release relates to Allianz Insurance plc. Allianz Insurance plc is one of the largest general insurers in the UK and part of the Allianz Group.

About Allianz Holdings plc

Allianz Holdings plc is the non-regulated holding company which owns the principal insurance operations of Allianz SE in Great Britain.

About Allianz

The Allianz Group is one of the world's leading insurers and asset managers with more than 100 million* private and corporate customers in more than 70 countries. Allianz customers benefit from a broad range of personal and corporate insurance services, ranging from property, life and health insurance to assistance services to credit insurance and global business insurance. Allianz is one of the world’s largest investors, managing 790 billion euros on behalf of its insurance customers. Furthermore, our asset managers PIMCO and Allianz Global Investors manage 1.7 trillion euros of third-party assets. Thanks to our systematic integration of ecological and social criteria in our business processes and investment decisions, we are amongst the leaders in the insurance industry in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. In 2021, over 150,000 employees achieved total revenues of 148.5 billion euros and an operating profit of 13.4 billion euros for the group.

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