Chubb Corporation CFO Weston Hicks has resigned from the company, a move analysts view with some trepidation.

The news comes after Chubb CEO Dean O'Hare announced in April that he would retire by the end of this year.

Mr. Hicks has accepted a position at Alleghany Corp, and Michael O'Reilly, executive vice president and chief investment officer at Chubb will become the interim CFO until Chubb's new CEO takes office when a new CFO will be selected.

Mr. Hicks was CFO for less than a year and a half and hailed Chubb as "a first class company."

Mr. Hicks also said he wanted to take advantage of a "once in a lifetime opportunity to move to a senior leadership position closely related to the world of investing, in which I have spent most of my career."

Morgan Stanley Analyst Alice Shroeder said the news came as somewhat of a surprise and she believed it signalled that Chubb was likely to hire an outsider to fill its CEO position. "It is difficult for us to view this news positively," she said.

They also outlined several implications after the announcement. Ms Schroeder said Mr. Hicks was highly regarded in the investment community and they believed his departure was likely to disappoint some investors.

She said: "Mr. Hicks had been an integral part of the company, helping it develop a better framework for communicating with investors. Mr. Hicks was also viewed as an effective capital manager."

Mr. Hicks' departure also signals that Mr. O'Hare's replacement may be an outsider because: "We believe if an insider were in the running for the CEO position, Mr. Hicks would likely have stayed at his current position," said Ms Schroeder. She added, however, that since Mr. Hicks was no longer in the running near term for the CEO slot, he may have been inclined to look for an opportunity that would allow him to advance. Ms Shroeder also felt there was the possibility that an outside CEO may want to fill the CFO position with his own person, or there might not be the right chemistry.

Concerning Chubb's outstanding exposures, Ms Schroeder said: "If an "outside" CEO takes the helm at Chubb, we believe the company's charge related to asbestos and other reserves issues could be at the high end of the range anticipated by investors. In general, we believe a newcomer to Chubb is likely to be as conservative as possible in boosting potentially deficient reserves. Depending on the magnitude of the reserve hit, we think the company could have to raise capital to maintain its ratings."

Finally, Ms Schroeder said: "The October 4 effective date means the company will go through the CFO transition, and through 3Q earnings release, without Mr. Hicks, which we think is hard to view as positive."