His remarks to Bloomberg TV come amid persistent speculation that Zurich and German peer Allianz could be interested in a tie-up.

"Mergers and M&A activity is not really a priority for us. We are doing some targeted, focused M&A transactions and we will continue doing that but all we do is in-country transactions where we can strengthen our strengths in each given country as we did in Australia, as we did in Argentina, as we did in the U.S. a year ago. We will stick to that and we will maintain our discipline and our focus on that," he said.

Asked whether the European insurance sector needed consolidation, he said: "I don't think so because we are in the middle of a fundamental industry transformation where consolidation doesn't solve the issues, doesn't make it easier for any of us to confront the issues of the transformation."

(Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)