CBA wealth boss joins exodus as CommInsure sold

The exodus of senior managers from CBA has continued with the exit of wealth management boss Annabel Spring.

Former Commonwealth Bank group executive, wealth management, Annabel Spring. Picture: Kym Smith

The exodus of senior managers from Commonwealth Bank has continued with the departure of long-serving wealth management boss Annabel Spring, as the nation’s largest bank jettisons its accident-prone life insurance arm CommInsure.

Ms Spring, who has been with the bank since 2009 and led the wealth management division during the financial planning scandal three years ago, will leave the group in December. The future of Helen Troup, the managing director of CommInsure, is less certain.

AIA, which struck a deal to buy CommInsure for $3.8 billion, has made it clear its head of Australia and New Zealand, Damien Mu, will be in charge of the business.  Ms Spring will be the first member of the bank’s senior executive team to depart following explosive allegations it breached anti-money laundering laws more than 53,000 times, which were filed in the Federal Court by the regulator Austrac in August.

However, CBA chair Catherine Livingstone has flagged the exit of chief executive Ian Narev early next year and has begun a sweep of the boardroom.

Non-executive directors Harrison Young and Launa Inman will retire at the bank’s annual meeting in November. Andrew Mohl is seeking re-election to the board but will leave the year after.

The bank said with the sale of the life insurance business, Ms Spring had “decided to leave” CBA in December. She will continue to lead the wealth management businesses until the end of this year.

The bank’s chief financial officer of International Financial Services, Michael Venter, will step into the role of chief operating officer of the wealth division.

Citi analyst Craig Williams said more management changes would flow, which were “necessary if perceived cultural deficiencies and a lack of accountability are to be addressed” by the bank.

Ms Spring told The Australian it was a “natural moment” to leave the business following an overhaul of the wealth division, the sale of CommInsure and now the potential float of the Colonial First State Global Asset Management arm.

“It has been a frantic last six years,” she said.

Ms Spring said she wouldn’t be a good executive if she didn’t second-guess her actions.

“There are many things I would have done better. I learnt from those mistakes. If there has been a problem, I have been open, transparent and tried to fix it,” she said.

Bill Lisle, regional chief executive of AIA, said Ms Troup was still an employee of CBA through the takeover transaction.

“We will obviously be going through a fair and transparent process of identifying the right people for the role (of chief of CommInsure). That process has not started yet, and it would be inappropriate to comment on that process. Damien Mu is our (Australian) chief executive, and we envisage that will continue,” Mr Lisle said.

The wealth division has been problematic for the bank in recent years. Both the financial planning scandal and the CommInsure debacle contributed to calls for a royal commission into the banking sector and the parliamentary review of the four major banks.

CommInsure has been scrutinised heavily in the past two years. It was found to be using outdated definitions of heart attack to deny claims, and faced allegations it was pressuring doctors to reject legitimate claims.

Subsequent independent reviews have cleared the insurer of any “systemic” wrongdoing, but the allegations triggered a parliamentary inquiry into the $44bn life insurance industry and a range of regulatory investigations.

Although it cleared the group of any wrongdoing following a claims handling review, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission is continuing an investigation into whether CommInsure breached advertising regulations.

ASIC said some of the group’s practices were “out of step with community expectations” and said the exemption for life insurance from “good faith” provisions in the financial services act had hampered any potential legal action.

“AIA takes our responsibility and our role of taking the customers’ needs at the time of claim very seriously and we alone paid over 16,500 claims last year,” Mr Mu told The Australian.

“We as an industry want to raise the level of trust we have with Australians.”

Mr Narev said the bank thanked Ms Spring for “her contribution, and wish her the very best for the next successful phase in her career”.