After 28 months attempting to turn around the troubled Australian wealth manager, CEO Francesco De Ferrari is out at AMP.
Sydney-based wealth manager AMP is replacing CEO Francesco De Ferrari by mid-year, it said in a statement on Thursday. The move culminates a tumultuous two years and four months for the Swiss banker, who was poached from Credit Suisse in the midst of a major crisis at AMP.
«Francesco has led AMP through an extraordinary period, responding to unprecedented external challenges, all while successfully executing a complex transformation program,» the firm said in a statement. AMP, which was bleeding assets when De Ferrari arrived, parachuted him in following a scandal over misleading its customers and lying to its regulator.
Failed Talks
De Ferrari had to tap AMP's shareholders for A$650 million ($494 million), sold a life insurance unit for $3 billion, and cut the Australian wealth manager's adviser force during his tenure. AMP's favorable view of him is tempered somewhat by several missteps, including the handling of a sexual harassment case as well as poor workplace conduct by a long-standing associate whom De Ferrari had poached from Credit Suisse.
The Swiss executive, formerly Credit Suisse's top private banker in Asia, is also criticized for not commanding the full price from the insurance sale, to Resolution Life last year, as «AFR» reported. More recently, AMP's talks with U.S. investment house Ares over a private markets collaboration ended this month, without a deal.
Curious Move
He will be replaced in the third quarter by Alexis George, an ANZ banker who was previously with Dutch bank ING for ten years in management roles. De Ferrari will run AMP until at least July 1, and afterwards be available for the handover to George.
His departure ends what many wealth industry observers viewed as a curious move in 2018, though De Ferrari was heavily incentivized to leave Credit Suisse. His hefty pay potential payday was curbed one year later, when AMP's fortunes worsened.
Less CEO Pay
AMP will pay his successor as CEO, George, less: namely a base salary of A$1.715 million per year, compared to De Ferrari's A$2.2 million, but with a short-term incentive equivalent to 100 percent to 200 percent of her salary for on-target performance.
She will also receive a sign-on bonus of A$4.1 million in AMP equity to make her whole from ANZ, as well as a A$732,500 cash bonus in December.
De Ferrari remains eligible for 2021 salary incentives and will be paid A$300,000 for the additional work he undertook to support the AMP Capital business and another A$200,000 as a reimbursement for relocating his family to Sydney.
