Bernd Papenstein is set to replace Andreas Klasen at the head of German ECA Euler Hermes.

Papenstein is a senior partner at PwC and will take over from Klasen, who has accepted a job as a professor of international business at Offenburg University, on April 1, 2015.

Papenstein tells GTR: “I would like to sustain the strong market position of the German ECA in a challenging economic environment and in particular changing capital and financing markets. To this end we will permanently question whether our products and processes are really aligned to the needs of the industry. Especially the regular exchanges with our national and international partners will enable us to make appropriate adjustments. Hermes remains a solid and powerful partner.”

Papenstein will be supported by the recently appointed chief operating officer of the German ECA, Philipp Rossberg.

On top of his new role at Offenburg University in Southern Germany, Klasen will intensify his engagement as a fellow in the Global Policy Institute at Durham University in the UK, and continue to assume an advisory role at the Berne Union.

“Bernd is a well reputed expert with more than 15 years’ experience in corporate finance. In particular, he is responsible for the management of domestic guarantee programmes on behalf of the German federal and several federal state governments,” Klasen says of his successor.