AMP has put its faith in a “squeaky clean” US executive with a record of managing complex, global relationships to run its flagship real assets business and break from the scandal surrounding the previous appointment of Boe Pahari.

Shawn Johnson, a former senior managing director at State Street Global Advisors, one of the world’s largest fund managers, will swap the leafy suburbs on the edge of Boston for the beachside glamour of Sydney when he begins the role of AMP Capital chief executive this month.