Ageas announced the appointment of Antonio Cano as Chief Operating Officer (COO) with effect from 1 October 2015. Antonio Cano will replace Barry Smith, who has expressed his desire to retire. Antonio Cano will be replaced as CEO of AG Insurance by Hans De Cuyper, currently CFO of AG Insurance.

Antonio Cano joined Ageas in 1993 and held various functions in Business control, ALM, performance management and strategy. Concurrent with the existing COO-responsibilities, Antonio Cano will be responsible for leading the four business segments (Belgium, UK, Continental Europe and Asia), the delivery of the strategic agenda and results within these four segments and the leverage of cross business synergies and innovation. Barry Smith, currently Chief Operating Officer and member of the Management Committee of Ageas, will retire as of October 1. Throughout his outstanding career Barry has occupied multiple functions within the Group; he was appointed CEO of Ageas UK in 2001 and became COO of Ageas Group in January 2013.

Barry managed to establish what was a newly created COO function into one that has successfully leveraged synergies and added value between four business segments.