ANZ reshapes its wealth business
ANZ has announced more changes to its wealth management leadership team, headed by Joyce Phillips, ANZ's chief executive of global wealth. These follow the appointment earlier this week of Kerri Thompson to the new position of managing director bancassurance and customer experience at ANZ Wealth.The two main appointments are:* Alexis George, who has been named as ANZ's managing director of insurance, effective from 2 December 2013. She moves from ING Asia/Pacific, where she was regional chief operating officer, based in Hong Kong. Prior to this, George was the CEO of ING Insurance for the Czech and Slovak Republics. * Neil Younger, who joined the ANZ group in December 2011 as its head of practice-based financial planning, has stepped up into a new role as ANZ's general manager for advice and open market channels, effective immediately. This role covers both the financial planning businesses wholly owned by ANZ - RI Advice, Millennium3 and Financial Services Partners - and the independent adviser groups that distribute ANZ's products.In a further executive move, the bank's head of financial planning, Luke Symons, is to become ANZ's head of mobile lending for retail distribution. He will report to Mark Hand and his appointment is effective from 21 October.These changes are part of a "reshaping" of ANZ's advice business as the bank looks to "better engage with its existing customer base", according to a bank spokesperson. As a result of this reshuffle, Paul Barrett, ANZ's managing director for advice and distribution, will leave the bank "to pursue the next stage of his career", the bank said in a statement. His last day with ANZ will be 16 September.