With Challenger Limited naming Brian Benari as chief executive officer designate, incumbent CEO Dominic Stevens said it’s business as usual at the investment manager.
As the current chief operating officer, Benari is set to take over from incumbent Challenger CEO Dominic Stevens in February 2012, whose work in recognising the retirement income opportunity and pivotal role of annuities has been key to the company’s success, said Challenger chairman Peter Polson.
Speaking with Money Management, Stevens said Benari is well known to the board and well-versed in investor relations. He said Benari’s shared view on business strategy will be key in the roll back of his duties until he officially departs Challenger in June.
Stevens said the reason for his departure was due to personal reasons and added that Benari’s appointment would be the only change at the company.
"It’s business as usual. The next nine months will see Brian and I work closely as we have in the past," Steven said.
"All the director boards will remain in place and all the business structures will remain the same."
Over the past 12 months, Challenger has been focused on distribution, marketing, branding and technology in the wake of their advertising campaign, Stevens said. He said, going forward, the focus will be on growing the retirement incomes and the planning arm of the business.
"One thing that we are focusing on is deferred lifetime annuities and working with the Government to change some of the laws around the retirement system," Steven said.
Stevens said the impediment faced by retirees is the fact that deferred lifetime annuities are not available in the list of authorised retirement planning products, and this is a serious concern in managing longevity risk.
"I don’t see much of a change in strategy at Challenger. It will be more of the same over the next 9 months and even a year or two after I leave. It’s steady as she goes," Stevens said.
Under Challenger’s succession plan, current deputy group CFO Andrew Tobin will be appointed group chief financial officer when Benari becomes CEO.
