Acting head of Asgard named

Asgard has named Damien Murphy as acting head following Wayne Wilson's departure from the group earlier this week.

Murphy is currently national distribution manager for BT Wrap and has been with the group for 15 years.

BT Financial Group (BTFG) is now undertaking an external search for Wilson's replacement, a process the group said could take up to six months.

Wilson was the second high profile departure from BTFG in recent weeks, with Geoff Lloyd resigning last month to take up a role with Perpetual Private Clients, a role Wilson once held.

BTFG general manager of platforms, marketing and communication, John Shuttleworth said he understood there would be questions following the departures.

"People look at two people in quick succession and wonder what's going on, but they're different circumstances," Shuttleworth said.

Wilson is now looking for a new role in the wealth management space.

There has been significant change taking place at BTFG following former chief Rob Coombe’s move to head up Westpac’s retail and business banking arms, and Brad Cooper taking the helm.

“Whenever you get a new CEO coming into the business restructures take place,” Shuttleworth said.

“Brad clearly formed a view pretty quickly that he wanted to restructure the business. Coming out of the banking environment and being used to being hands on, he wanted to have a greater number of direct reports.”

In the restructure following Lloyd’s departure, Shuttleworth took control of BTFG’s platforms business, including both BT Wrap and Asgard.

“There’s always going to be some change as we go through the normal course of business with individuals and constantly trying to optimise things, but in terms of senior leadership role there’s nothing else coming down the pipeline that I could disclose to you at this point in time,” Shuttleworth said.

Shuttleworth responded to market speculation over Asgard being consolidated into BT Wrap by saying the group remained committed to a two platform strategy, and pointing to the investments being made to grow both businesses.