Finance Business Partner — Life Insurance Specialist

Executive Summary

This leading life insurance business wanted to better integrate their finance division into the business. They wanted to create a culture that focused on value-add decision support for the business’ leadership. To assist the change, the Australian CFO introduced a newly created role for a finance business partner to bridge the gap between central finance and the operational functions of the business.

Client Profile

A specialist provider of life insurance and retirement solutions, this global business partners with employers and super funds to help more Australians create a lifestyle they love.

Founded over 145 years ago, this global business has 65,000 employees across offices in more than 40 countries worldwide, working together to make a difference to the lives of their customers when they need it most.

Brief

The business was looking to expand into a variety of new markets and required an added level of industry knowledge and commerciality to support the leadership decision process.

The Australian CFO introduced the newly created role of finance business partner to bridge the gap between central finance and the operational functions of the business. Without this new role the business faced a lack of commercial insight as they expanded their operations.

The candidate required experience in statutory finance with progression into a commercial/analytical focus. Key product knowledge of the business portfolio and outstanding interpersonal/business partnership skills were also required.

Having been placed in their current role by Allegis Partners (an Allegis Group company), the CFO was aware of the expertise and knowledge that Aston Carter had to offer, and invited us to tender for the requirement.

Aston Carter prepared a successful competitive tender that addressed key requirements including targeted sourcing strategies, market intelligence on remuneration expectations and a detailed project timeline to ensure the role was filled in time, thereby minimising ongoing risk to the business.

Our Solution

The CFO requested to see a broad scope of candidates with insurance industry experience, and a variety of product backgrounds to assist them in better understanding the key requirements they needed in the new role.

Utilising a targeted market mapping exercise to identify suitable candidates in the market in similar positions, Aston Carter selected a number of candidates with strong industry knowledge that would suit the business’ requirements. References on each potential candidate were conducted early, with details provided to the hiring panel when the candidates were presented for consideration.

These references allowed the hiring panel to identify key areas for consideration, allowing them to conduct more insightful interviews with each candidate than may have otherwise been achieved.

Aston Carter also leveraged their longstanding relationships with the business’ Marketing group to better understand the culture, ensuring that each candidate aligned perfectly with the values and culture of the business.