People Moves
Rebuilding AMP Recruits Another Ex-Credit Suisse Private Banker
The firm, which is replacing and overhauling senior management after a costly scandal, has added another ex-Credit Suisse private banker to its executive team.
Another former senior Credit Suisse private
banker has taken up a top-level role at Australia-headquartered
AMP Ltd the
investment firm that has been battling to recover from a major
compliance scandal.
AMP has appointed Alex Wade to its group leadership team as group
executive for advice, effective 7 January next year, the firm
said today in a statement.
Wade will report to AMP chief executive Francesco de Ferrari, the
former Credit Suisse private banking chief in Asia who went
across to AMP a few weeks ago.
The move means Wade takes over from Jack Regan, who will retire
from AMP after nearly 20 years at the firm.
David Akers, who has been AMP’s acting group executive for advice
while Regan has been on extended leave. Akers will work with Wade
to transition responsibilities and return to the advice
leadership team. Blair Vernon will continue as managing director
of New Zealand.
Most recently, Wade was head of developed and emerging Asia for
Credit Suisse Private Banking. Wade has been with Credit Suisse
for 12 years, holding other roles such as chief of staff for
Asia-Pacific and head of private banking for Australia. He is
experienced in financial services in Australia, Singapore and
Hong Kong.
De Ferrari, who had been at Credit Suisse for 17 years, and was
head of private banking for Asia-Pacific and chief executive for
Southeast Asia and frontier markets, joined AMP in August. De
Ferrari succeeded Mike Wilkins, who served as interim CEO from
April 2018.
AMP logged a drop in underlying profit in the first half of this
year, falling to A$495 million ($365.7 million) from A$533
million for the same period a year earlier. The attributable
profit, taking account of a number of costs and one-off expenses,
slumped to A$115 million from A$445 million. In July, this
publication reported that AMP had warned investors it expects to
provide for A$290 million (after tax) in costs to remediate
clients for past misconduct over advice, part of a string of
scandals in the country’s financial industry. (See
here for details.)
