In August, Perpetual announced that Ian Hammond and Nancy Fox will retire in October 2024 in line with the board rotation. The firm said it is “well advanced” in seeking replacement for independent non-executive directors.
It has since announced its first appointment of Paul Ruiz as non-executive director from 9 September.
He will chair the firm’s audit, risk and compliance committee, taking over from Hammond who the firm said will formally step down at the firm’s annual general meeting on 17 October.
Ruiz is currently a non-executive director at life insurer TAL Dai-ichi Life Australia where he also chairs the audit committee.
Previously, Ruiz sat on the board of the Financial Planning Association (which is now called the Financial Advice Association Australia) as an independent director for two years – from 2018 to 2020.
During his career, he primarily worked as an audit partner at KPMG until 2016, where he specialised in the audit of financial services businesses in Australia and internationally.
Perpetual chairman Tony D’Aloisio said Ruiz’s expertise in this area will be invaluable to the board as it completes the transaction with KKR.
This will see KKR acquire the firm’s wealth management and corporate trust business, while Perpetual will remain as a standalone asset management business. However, the deal has been questioned by analysts since its announcement who query if it delivers shareholder value.
He said: “We are pleased to welcome a director of Paul’s experience to the Perpetual board. His extensive financial services industry experience, and expertise in external and internal audit, financial reporting, risk management, mergers and acquisitions, and divestments will be invaluable as Perpetual completes the transaction with KKR to acquire Wealth Management and Corporate Trust and transitions to a single purpose asset management business.”
As well as a replacement for Fox, the board will see a new chair soon as D’Aloisio is set to retire from the board in early 2025. The firm has already announced his replacement will be Gregory Cooper who is currently serving as deputy chair.
With the smaller remit of Perpetual to focus on asset management alone, the board will shrink in size from nine directors to seven going forward.
