Phoenix appoints Staunton as chair
INSURER Phoenix Group has named current WH Smith chair Henry Staunton as replacement for outgoing chairman Sir Howard Davies.
Staunton sat on the board of insurer Legal and General for seven years as a non-executive director and vice-chairman until 2013 and is also currently chairman of rent-to-own company BrightHouse Group. As an executive he worked first at Granada before becoming finance chief at ITV.
Davies is due to join the board of Royal Bank of Scotland as chairman on 1 September. He has had a busy summer, publishing the Airports Commission report into airport expansion in London and the south east.
Phoenix, which holds insurance books closed to new customers, saw operating profits fall 50 per cent for the six months ended June to £135m.
However the group, led by chief executive Clive Bannister, was more upbeat about hitting full year cash generation targets and preparations for new Solvency II capital rules.
It made £110m, putting it on course to meet the group’s full year target of £200m to £250m.
“We are well placed to build on our existing position as the UK’s largest specialist consolidator of closed life funds,” Bannister said.