The Association of Financial Advisers is set to farewell one of its key spokespeople, Zurich has created a new Head of Operational Excellence role, and Securitor has confirmed its new Managing Director.
AFA COO, Phil Anderson, will leave the Association at the end of this month, taking up a new role at netwealth.
Mr Anderson has been an integral part of the AFA for four years, leading the Association’s policy and advocacy work. He led the process to develop the AFA’s Principles of Professionalism, which form part of the Code of Conduct. He has also penned numerous Government and industry submissions, and worked closely with key stakeholders on the new Life Insurance Framework.
“We would like to take this opportunity to thank Phil for his passionate commitment to support financial advisers and the value of financial advice as he prepares to move to a new role that will see these passions continue,” said AFA CEO, Brad Fox.
Mr Anderson will join netwealth in October as Head of Governance and Advice. In this role, Mr Anderson will be responsible for leading the netwealth-owned Pathway Licensee Services business, and focusing on education and infrastructure support for licensees and planners.
Michael Heine, Founder and Joint-Managing Director of netwealth, said: “We are very enthusiastic about Phil’s appointment to the netwealth executive. Phil’s knowledge, experience and industry standing further strengthens the already strong netwealth team and delivers even greater governance capabilities to netwealth, netwealth advice group and our Pathway clients.
Zurich Financial Services has created a new Head of Operational Excellence role, appointing Margaret (Mags) De Almeida to the position.
Ms De Almeida will provide key support to Zurich’s operational teams, including Client Services, Underwriting, Claims and Operations, to maintain Zurich’s culture of continuous improvement and service excellence. She will also be responsible for heading up the analysis of client insights to deliver greater improvements in customer care, as well as assessing the operations team to more effectively measure and track service and efficiency improvements in Zurich’s core insurance processes.
Ms De Almeida brings over 20 years’ insurance and superannuation experience to Zurich, and has worked in South Africa and the UK, as well as holding roles with NobleOak Life and MLC in Australia.
Zurich Chief Operating Officer, Phil Anderson, said the newly created role will be pivotal in Zurich’s strategy to ‘be the best’.
“Mags comes to Zurich with a wealth of experience in business change, relationship management and delivering best practice customer service.
“These are all extremely valuable attributes as we look to support the business in achieving Zurich’s current and future growth targets,” Mr Anderson said.
Meanwhile, Securitor has confirmed Mark Fisher as its new Managing Director.
Mr Fisher has been acting in the role for the past seven months, following the departure of Matt Englund who is understood to have taken up an internal promotion.
In his six years with BT, Mr Fisher has held numerous roles, including Securitor State Manager for New South Wales and Queensland and Westpac Financial Planning State Manager, Queensland.
Phil Butterworth, BT Financial Group’s General Manager of Group Licensees, said Mr Fisher’s appointment marked the next step in the group’s growth.
“Mark’s appointment reflects the great momentum we currently have across our aligned advice channels to ensure all of our advisers can work in an efficient and sustainable manner while delivering trusted and valued financial advice customers need,” Mr Butterworth said.
Mr Fisher added: “I am very optimistic about the future of the financial advice industry,” says Mr Fisher. “I am excited to be leading a group of professional financial planning businesses with high standards of governance and compliance, who are passionate about the client experience and are committed to innovation and execution.”
