THURSDAY, 10.00AM:
SANLAM MD Desmond Smith on Wednesday made the shock announcement of his immediate early retirement, apparently over “differences of emphasis” over the group’s strategic direction.
When he was appointed to head the operations of the country’s second biggest life assurer four years ago, Smith was the group’s youngest-ever MD, and the first non-Afrikaner.
The suddenness of Smith’s retirement has been greeted with shock in the industry. It is speculated that the fall-out is a result of the group’s recently announced plans to demutualise.
Sanlam will not fill Smith’s vacant post; instead board chairman Marinus Daling has stepped in as executive chairman. Daling dismissed speculation about Smith’s retirement, saying only that the parting is amicable, and declined to comment on the “differences of emphasis” that led to Smith’s decision to quit.