Group Chief Financial Officer

RNS Number : 1298H

Legal & General Group Plc

17 June 2013

 



Legal & General Group Plc - Directorate Change (Group Chief Financial Officer) 

Legal & General Group Plc Board announces the appointment of Mark Gregory as Group Chief Financial Officer.

Legal & General also announces new organisation structure to reflect ongoing strategic evolution.

Legal & General Group Plc ("Legal & General" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that Mark Gregory will be appointed as Group Chief Financial Officer of the Company with effect from 1 July 2013.

Mark is currently Chief Executive Officer of the Savings business and has been a member of the Board since January 2009. Mark has led the transformation of the Savings business into a capital light and efficient asset accumulation business, growing operating profit from £7m in 2008 to £133m in 2012 and assets under administration (AUA) from £46bn in 2008 to over £100bn*.

John Stewart, Chairman of Legal & General, commented:

"I am delighted Mark has been appointed as Group Chief Financial Officer. Mark has now successfully delivered the first stage of the Savings transformation and the Board is looking forward to working with him as CFO. Mark's appointment shows the breadth and depth of talent in Legal & General."

Nigel Wilson, Group Chief Executive, said:

"We continue to successfully drive our growth strategy through the five key areas of LGIM International Expansion, Retirement Solutions, Digital Solutions, Protection and Direct Investments. Mark has made a major contribution having led the successful turnaround of the Savings business, implementation of our strategy for the post-RDR marketplace and auto-enrolment, and the acquisition of Cofunds. We have worked together very closely as part of the executive team over a number of years and I look forward to working with Mark in his new role as the executive team continues to deliver our growth strategy."

Mark Gregory commented:

"I am excited about taking up the role of Group CFO. The Company is in a great position: with market leading products in attractive markets coupled with a strong balance sheet and growing and sustainable cashflows, resulting in strong dividend growth. I look forward to working with Nigel, Mark and John to leverage our financial strength to develop the business further."

Following the appointment of Mark Gregory as Group Chief Financial Officer there are several other important organisational changes which reflect the ongoing strategic evolution of Legal & General.

-     John Pollock will assume responsibility for the Savings business creating an integrated protection and savings business.

-     Mark Zinkula will assume responsibility for the unit trust business of Legal & General Investments, which will become part of Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM).

-     The Annuities business will become a separate business division led by Kerrigan Procter.

The responsibility for the Savings business division will be assumed by John Pollock from 1 July 2013. He will lead an integrated protection and savings business of over seven million customers and 5,000 employees, built around operational centres of excellence and focused on meeting the needs of both individual and corporate customers.

The unit trust business of Legal & General Investments will become part of LGIM, which is led by Mark Zinkula. This will enable our retail investment customers to benefit fully from LGIM's expertise, scale and market leading customer service. LGIM continues to accelerate inflows by leveraging existing relationships and extending distribution capability to ensure profitable growth from scalable, efficient operating models.

Kerrigan Procter, Managing Director Annuities, will report directly to Nigel Wilson, Group Chief Executive and will work increasingly closely with our asset liability matching team headed by Paul Stanworth, Group Capital and Investments Director.

Nigel Wilson, Group Chief Executive, said:

"The successful turnaround of the Savings business now enables us to re-organise our business in a way which best reflects customer needs and the increasingly digital distribution environment of RDR, auto-enrolment and platforms. Customers want straightforward access to our products and services and the new structure will enable us to deliver this and maximise the synergies between our businesses."

End

About Legal & General

Established in 1836, Legal & General is a leading provider of insurance, savings and investment management products in the UK.  The Group has a market capitalisation of £10.1bn and is responsible for investing £441bn worldwide (as at 31 March 2013) on behalf of investors, policyholders and shareholders. Our Savings business has over £100bn* AUA and total UK Protection gross premiums were £325m in the first three months of 2013. We have over seven million customers in the UK for life assurance, pensions, investments and general insurance plans and almost one million customers in the US who rely on us for life assurance. In 2012, Legal & General's profits before tax (on the IFRS basis) were £1.1bn, earnings per share were 13.9p and dividends per share 7.65p for the period, an increase of 9%, 12% and 20% respectively.

Biographies

Mark Gregory

Mark joined Legal & General in 1998 from Asda Group Plc where he held both senior finance and business development roles. He has undertaken a variety of divisional finance and business director roles at Legal & General including Financial Director (Retail), Group Financial Controller, Communications and Resources Director, Resources and International Director, UK Services Operations Director and Managing Director of With Profits. Mark was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the Savings business and a director of the Board in January 2009. Mark is a qualified chartered accountant.

There is no information about Mark Gregory that requires disclosure under Listing Rule 9.6.13(2) - (6).

Nigel Wilson

Nigel was appointed Group Chief Executive of Legal & General in June 2012 having joined as Group Chief Financial Officer in 2009. Previously Nigel was Senior Independent Director (SID) of The Capita Group plc (2010-12) and SID/Chairman of Halfords Group Plc (2004-11). Other previous appointments held include; Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer of United Business Media plc, McKinsey & Co, Group Commercial Director of Dixons Group Plc, Managing Director of Stanhope Properties Plc, Chief Executive, Corporate, Guinness Peat Aviation (G.P.A.), Managing Director, Viridian Capital.  Nigel has a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he was a Kennedy Scholar.

John Pollock

John is Chief Executive Officer of the Protection and Annuities business and was appointed to the Board in December 2003, having joined Legal & General in 1980. John's former roles include: Director, UK Operations; Managing Director, Legal & General Asia and various posts in Customer Services and IT.

Mark Zinkula

Mark Zinkula was appointed Chief Executive Officer of LGIM in March 2011 and a member of the Board in September 2012. Prior to that, he was CEO of Legal & General Investment Management America (LGIMA) since 2008 and played an integral part in the establishment and successful expansion of LGIMA. Prior to joining LGIMA, Mark was at Aegon Asset Management where he was Global Head of Fixed Income. 

*Proforma AUA at 31 March 2013

ENQUIRIES

INVESTORS:

Kate Vennell Head of Investor Relations 020 3124 2150

MEDIA:

John Godfrey Group Communications Director 020 3124 2090

Richard King Head of Media Relations 020 3124 2095

Andrew Grant Tulchan Communications 020 7353 4200

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This document may contain certain forward-looking statements relating to Legal & General Group, its plans and its current goals and expectations relating to future financial condition, performance and results. By their nature forward looking statements involve uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances which are beyond Legal & General's control, including, among others, UK domestic and global economic and business conditions, market related risks such as fluctuations in interest rates and exchange rates, the policies and actions of regulatory and Governmental authorities, the impact of competition, the timing impact of these events and other uncertainties of future acquisition or combinations within relevant industries. As a result, Legal & General Group's actual future condition, performance and results may differ materially from the plans, goals and expectations set out in these forward-looking statements and persons reading this announcement should not place reliance on forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made only as at the date on which such statements are made and Legal & General Group Plc does not undertake to update forward-looking statements contained in this document or any other forward-looking statement it may make.

 

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