A senior city businessman was sectioned under the Mental Health Act today after his young daughter was found at his home suffering from life-threatening head injuries.

Alberto Izaga, 36, a board member of the insurance giant Swiss Re, was arrested at his luxury apartment on the Albert Embankment, on the bank of the River Thames, southeast London, early yesterday morning after neighbours apparently heard screaming and shouting.

Officers found his 2-year-old daughter seriously injured.

An ambulance and fast response car were sent to the address, and the child, who has not been named, was taken to St Thomas’s hospital where her condition remains life-threatening.

The cordoned-off apartment was being examined today by forensic-science experts.

Mr Izaga, who is the head of Life & Health Products at the European insurance group, headquartered in the City of London tower block nicknamed the Gherkin, was taken today to a hospital from police custody and sectioned.

The Specialist Crime Division Five and the child abuse investigation team are investigating.

A spokesman for the company in Zurich, where the company has its head office, said: “I can say that Swiss Re is deeply saddened by what has happened to the family of Alberto Izaga and our thoughts are with them at this sad moment.

“However, as this is a private matter, it would inappropriate to comment further.”

The spokesman added: "Alberto Izaga has been released from his responsibilities at Swiss Re. He has been suspended for the length of the investigation."

Before joining Swiss Re, the Spanish-born insurance executive spent nine years with the American-owned business conglomerate General Electric.

He began working for Swiss Re last June after its acquisition of GE Insurance Solutions, where he had run the life and health businesses in Europe.

A law and business graduate of the University of Deusto in Bilbao, Mr Izaga joined GE in 1998.

He worked at its corporate headquarters as a senior analyst, covering mergers and acquisitions, before becoming vice-president of business development.

After being made chief executive of life & health for continental Europe in 2002, the next year he became president and chief executive of life and health, Europe, a position he held until the acquisition by Swiss Re.

In July 2006 he was elected to the board of the Association of British Insurers.

Founded in 1863, Swiss Re has an annual turnover of about £13 billion and almost 9,000 employees in more than 30 countries.

Swiss Re’s website lists Mr Izaga as married with one daughter.

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