AMP appoints non-executive director to board

The group has announced that the current non-executive director of AMP Capital Holdings, Debra Hazelton, has been appointed as a non-executive director of the AMP Limited board and will continue operating in both roles from 15 June.

With over 30 years of experience in the global financial services sector, Ms Hazelton previously held roles as local chief executive of Mizuho Bank in Australia and Commonwealth Bank (CBA) in Japan. She also served on the board of Australian Financial Markets Association.

Ms Hazelton is currently non-executive director on the boards of Treasury Corporation of Victoria, Persol Australia Holdings and the Australia-Japan Foundation.

AMP chairman David Murray said: “As a director of AMP Capital Holdings, Debra already understands our business and our work to reinvent AMP as a more streamlined, sustainable business with a high-quality client offering.”

He continued: “Debra’s leadership and experience within financial institutions, as well as her previous appointments as a non-executive director, will further strengthen the skills and expertise on the AMP board.”

AMP Life to Resolution Life

AMP has also announced that on completion of the sale of AMP Life to Resolution Life, Trevor Matthews will retire from the AMP Limited board, which he has been a member of since March 2014.

However, he will remain on the AMP Life board as an AMP nominee. He has been the chairman of the AMP Life board since May 2016.

Mr Murray commented: “I would like to thank Trevor for his considerable contribution to AMP over the last five years. His deep knowledge of the life insurance industry will be a great asset to AMP Life, in which AMP will retain an ongoing economic interest.”

Late last year (October 2018), AMP announced the completion of its portfolio review, which included an agreement to divest its Australian and New Zealand wealth protection and mature businesses (AMP Life) and reinsure New Zealand retail wealth protection for total proceeds of $3.45 billion.

The board changes follow on from five new executives to AMP’s Australian Wealth Management division leadership team.

These appointments include Lakshman Anantakrishnan as chief investment officer, Lara Bourguignon as CEO of SuperConcepts, Jennifer Thomas as chief operating officer, Fraser Herd as managing director of client relationships, and Ant Dureau as chief client officer.

Further, preceding these changes, AMP has recently announced that board member Geoff Roberts would retire at the firm’s next annual general meeting scheduled for 2 May 2019, nearly two years after joining the board.

Mr Roberts’ decision was attributed to “increasing demands on his time from both his executive role at SEEK Limited and as a director of the AMP Limited board and a number of AMP’s main subsidiaries”.

[Related: AMP announces five new executive appointments]