Equitable hunts for new finance chief
Troubled life insurer Equitable Life will have to cope in the short-term without a finance chief after a further reshuffle of its senior management team.
To add to the confusion, a spokesman revealed the exact role for the next head of the finance function, the insurer’s ‘appointed actuary’, had not been decided.
Despite this, the insurer, acquired by the Halifax, said it had begun looking for candidates after Charles Thomson was promoted to chief executive this week.
Halifax last month agreed a £500m deal for Equitable’s non-profit and unit-linked business, its operating assets and sales force, although the two companies will remain as separate entities.
The acquisition followed policyholders suffering a seven-month hiatus in regular bonuses last year.
Thomson – a fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries – replaced Chris Headdon who spent just three months in the role. Headdon took up the post in December after he too had spent time as the appointed actuary. It is understood Headdon has moved sideways to head up Equitable’s service company.
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