New AMP chair appointed

Financial services group AMP has announced that chair Debra Hazelton will be retiring from the board on 12 April 2024, after its next annual general meeting.

Ms Hazelton previously served as a non-executive director of the AMP capital board from 2018 to 2022.

Since she was appointed chair in August of 2020, Ms Hazelton has “steered the company through a successful transformation,” according to AMP.

It added that Ms Hazelton had supported the return of over $750 million in capital to shareholders after AMP implemented a “disciplined” cost control program.

She will be replaced by Mike Hirst, a non-executive director at AMP who was first appointed to the board in July 2021. He was then appointed chair of the risk and compliance committee at AMP in October 2022.

The incoming chair has more than 40 years of experience in board and senior executive leadership roles within retail banking, treasury, funds management, and financial markets.

Ms Hazelton commented: “During my tenure as chair, AMP has undergone a significant transformation to set the company up for a sustainable future.

“We have a strong chief executive officer and management team in place, the board has been renewed, the business is repositioned, the strategy reset, the AMP portfolio is simplified, the capital base is strong, and substantive legacy issues are resolved.

“I believe now is the right time for me to hand over to Mike Hirst, as the company embarks on a new chapter focused on growing as a retail bank and leading wealth manager in Australia and New Zealand,” she said.

“Mike Hirst will be exemplary as AMP’s chair, with his deep financial services knowledge and experience.”

Mr Hirst added: “I would like to thank Debra for the enormous contribution she has made to AMP, and the strong leadership she has shown during a transformative period for the business.

“I feel very privileged to be taking on the role of chair and recognise that we need to continue the hard work in delivering on the strategy and realising improved value for shareholders.

“AMP has a dedicated management team and a clear strategy that it needs to deliver on. I look forward to working with Alexis [George] as she leads the business to deliver growth opportunities and to drive improved investor and customer value.”

The news comes following the release of the group’s financial results for FY2023, which showed a marked uptick in broker-originated loans.

[Related: AMP reveals increase in broker flow for FY23]