Frédéric Bourgeois has been appointed managing director of Coface in the UK and Ireland, as Xavier Denecker retires.

Bourgeois, who will take up his new role on September 17, 2012, joined Coface in 2004 as a manager of investments and reinsurance, before taking on treasury and refinancing responsibilities and becoming group finance and reinsurance director in 2011. He also has seven years of experience as Natexis Bleichroeder, where he covered French, Swiss and German banks and insurers.

Denecker will retire in mid October, after 22 years at the French export credit agency, including five as its UK and Ireland managing director. He started as Coface’s communications director in 1990 before moving to Italy as deputy general manager in 1997 and then to Spain and Portugal as managing director in 2001.

“Under Xavier’s stewardship, Coface in the UK and Ireland has achieved its objective of refocusing its operations on credit insurance and the implementation of a robust organisation adapted to the challenges faced by its clients in an era of economic uncertainty. Frédéric Bourgeois will consolidate these achievements,” Coface says.