IAG UK chief executive sets out plans following retirement
IAG UK chief executive Neil Utley has outlined plans to invest in and help develop entrepreneurial businesses following his retirement from the Australian insurer.
Utley, who joined IAG in 2006 following the sale of Equity to the insurer, said his retirement had been planned for months.
He will be succeeded by New Zealand chief executive Ian Foy in September.
Utley said: “I have always intended to retire. I wanted to work with IAG to find successors – it’s taken a little while to find the right person.”
He added that he would retain his interest in the broker Hastings, which he chairs, as well as other investments. “Going forward, my life is not about working for corporates,” he said. “It’s about owning, investing and developing businesses. That’s the choice I’ve made – to come out of corporate life and back to entrepreneurial businesses.”
He added that he had parted on good terms with IAG UK and would remain with the insurer until the end of September.
IAG has suffered heavy falls in profit recently. It expects to make a net profit after tax of A$91m for the year ended 30 June 2010, compared with A$181m for the previous year.
Full-year insurance profit is expected to be A$493m, down from A$515m in 2009. Utley said that handing over the reins now put his successor in the best position to return the insurer to growth. He said: “This is a two year, three year programme and it’s not right to start that with one person and than swap it with someone else.”
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