Magellan CFO, COO hands in resignation
Magellan Financial Group’s chief financial officer and chief operating officer is set to depart from the asset manager by the end of 2024.
In an ASX announcement, the firm announced that Kirsten Morton has resigned from her position as CFO and COO, which she has held for more than 11 years.
Morton first joined Magellan in 2013 and also served as interim CEO between December 2021 and July 2022.
The asset manager stated that she will continue in her role until the end of 2024 as it commences a search process for a replacement and will “keep the market updated on progress as appropriate”.
Commenting on her departure, executive chairman Andrew Formica said: “Kirsten has been instrumental to the company and its senior management team since she joined Magellan in June 2013.
“In particular, Kirsten provided outstanding leadership and stability when she stepped into the role of interim chief executive officer from December 2021 until July 2022. The board is grateful to Kirsten for her immeasurable contribution to Magellan over many years and we wish her all the best in her future endeavours.”
Prior to her decade-long tenure at Magellan, Morton spent over two years at Colonial First State Global Asset Management, now named First Sentier Investors, as its head of finance for property.
In October 2023, it was announced that Magellan’s previous CEO David George had stepped down immediately after just over a year in the role. At the time, Formica took on the role of executive chairman while they searched for a new CEO.
Several months later in February this year, the firm appointed Sophia Rahmani, former chief executive of Maple-Brown Abbott, as its new managing director.
She commenced at Magellan in May with responsibilities including direct oversight of the investment, distribution, information technology, human resources, risk and compliance functions, while Formica has led the firm’s strategic development.
The board intends for Rahmani to take over as chief executive within 12 months, it stated in May, at which point Formica will move to a non-executive role.
Earlier this month, Magellan reported that its funds under management remained unchanged in October from the previous month at $38 billion. This was divided between $15.7 billion in retail assets and $22.3 billion in institutional assets.
The firm said net outflows were $0.3 billion during the month, which included net retail outflows of $0.2 billion and net institutional outflows of $0.1 billion. This was slightly up from $0.2 billion in September which was all driven by retail investors.
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Jasmine Siljic
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