NU Online News Service, June 4, 12:09 p.m.EDT

A stockholders' revolt leading to the ouster of Generali Group'slongtime chief executive officer has resulted in Zurich InsuranceGroup losing its CEO of General Insurance.

Zurich announced this morning that Mario Greco, CEO, GeneralInsurance, will return to Italy to assume the role of GeneraliGroup CEO.

Zurich says Greco's departure was immediate and that ZurichGroup CEO Martin Senn would head the General Insurance segment onan interim basis until a permanent replacement is announced.

In a statement Senn says, “I would like to thank Mario for allhe has done for Zurich. He has done an excellent job as CEO of bothGeneral Insurance and Global Life. While I deeply regret hisdeparture, I fully understand and support his decision to take onthis new challenge and wish him only the very best both from abusiness and personal point of view.”

Greco joined Zurich in October 2007 and was appointed CEO GlobalLife in April 2008. He assumed the role of CEO, General Insurancein July 2010.

The board of Generali Group fired Giovanni Perissinotto asmanaging director and group CEO of the company. The board said onSaturday that it was proposing to give Greco the managing directorand CEO job upon termination of his employment with Zurich.

Perissinotto was named general manager in 1998 and managingdirector of Generali Group in 2001.

According to the Financial Times, Perissinotto was fighting off a revolt from shareholders and boardmembers over the company's performance. The company has lost 45percent of its market share in the past 12 months.

Generali Group is Italy's major insurance company with a historydating back to 1831. Its primary business is on the life side, butit also offers non-life business on a global basis.