British insurer Aviva on Thursday said it planned a strategic review of all its businesses and to strengthen its capital base after the recent resignation of its chief executive officer.
Aviva CEO Andrew Moss last week sensationally quit Britain’s second biggest insurer after Prudential — the latest victim of spreading shareholder revolts over pay for top managers viewed as underperforming. Aviva’s incoming chairman John McFarlane who is tasked with helping to find a new chief executive on Thursday set out a number of priorities for the group.
The first he said was “a strategic review of all our businesses to ensure we are focused on the right segments; that we put in place plans to advance the performance and position of our businesses strategically, and exit sensibly those that are not part of our future.”
McFarlane added that Aviva planned to “build the capital base”, improve the group’s margins and to have “frank and open communication with shareholders”.
Aviva added on Thursday that sales of long-term savings policies dropped 5.0 per cent to £7.47 billion (9.33 billion euros, $11.86 billion) in the first quarter compared with one year earlier.
London, May 17, 2012 (AFP)
