Johannesburg - South African insurer Liberty Holdings plans to appoint the chief executive of its Stanlib asset management unit to oversee the company's expansion in the rest of the continent, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.Seelan Gobalsamy will take up his new position from March 1 as the company seeks to bring businesses with the strongest growth potential both inside South Africa and outside the country under one head, the sources said, asking not to be identified, because news of the change has not been announced publicly. Gobalsamy will retain his existing role at Stanlib until a replacement is found, they said.
The change was announced to staff on February 17 and forms part of a strategic review that Liberty chief executive Thabo Dloti started in September, the sources said.
Giles Heeger, chief executive of Liberty’s LibFin unit, will move into a new role created within Stanlib, where he will report to the asset-management unit's chief executive to bring all the company's investment capabilities under one roof, they said.
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Chief actuarial officer David Jewell will be brought into Liberty’s retail business to strengthen the division and will be replaced as chief risk officer, they said.
The management revamp was put in motion before an announcement on January 27 that Liberty's annual earnings per share dropped 40 percent to 60 percent, the sources said.
Gobalsamy, appointed as chief executive of Stanlib in March 2014, previously oversaw the three-year revamp of Liberty’s corporate business, and will focus on expanding the company’s life insurance and asset-management business outside South Africa, they said.
Liberty late last year started making various “changes to further align our leadership team and increase management bandwidth to accelerate the execution of our strategy”, Liberty said in an e-mailed response to questions.
It will provide clarity when it releases its results on Friday, it said, declining to provide further details.