International business insurer QBE has promoted Scott Pidduck to the newly created role of general manager for Canada, where he will focus on driving continued disciplined growth within the country.
The GM role replaces the previous role of director of Canada leading the Canadian business, QBE says in a press release Wednesday. Based in Toronto, Pidduck will be taking up his new official functions as GM beginning April 1.
Pidduck has been with QBE since 2012, when he joined as a professional liability and cyber underwriter. Three years later, he was promoted to underwriting manager for financial lines and cyber and in 2018, he took up the role of director of underwriting for Canada.
Pidduck will report to Kevin Shallow, QBE’s executive director for international markets.
“QBE Canada has always been focused on long-term, sustainable growth,” Shallow says in the release. “Scott’s track record as a director of underwriting was exceptional in this regard, demonstrating he was the right person to take a bigger [leadership] role for the country.
“Scott has developed a strong relationship with QBE’s clients, brokers [and] colleagues over the last 13 years. Those who work with him appreciate his underwriting expertise and his people skills.
Pidduck holds a Bachelor of business administration from Georgian College and started his insurance career with ACE-INA (Chubb), before joining QBE.
He says the company has strategic growth plans for this year and beyond.
“We have made great strides to establish ourselves as a leading cyber insurer, we have recently announced that we have doubled our property capacity, and our P&C package offering has and will continue to be a huge area for planned growth,” Pidduck says. “We also have a couple of new product launches in the pipeline….I am very excited to be leading this next stage of QBE Canada’s growth.”
Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, QBE Insurance Group is an international insurer and reinsurer with gross written premium of US$24 billion for the year ending Dec. 31, 2025.
QBE opened its first Canadian office in 2010 in Toronto, and opened an office in Vancouver in 2015. QBE Canada targets growth in cyber, property and P&C packages.
In 2024, QBE Canada appointed Caroline Fenn to a newly created role of multinational underwriting manager, reflecting its desire to attract clients needing multinational insurance placement solutions.
Operating under a Lloyd’s underwriting license, QBE does business exclusively through partnerships with insurance brokers, with claims managed and settled in Canada by a dedicated team. QBE has a comprehensive product range from automobile fleet and cybersecurity to general liability and property, covering a wide range of risks for a broad spectrum of businesses.
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Jason has been an award-winning journalist with Canadian Underwriter for more than a decade, including the past three years as associate editor and, before that, as digital editor for seven years.