Van Der Wielen appointed MD of Friends Life International

19 August 2011 8:25 am | By Chris Salih

Friends Life has appointed former Clerical Medical chief executive John Van Der Wielen as managing director of its international arm.

Van Der Wielen will join at the end of the year, reporting directly to chief executive officer Andy Briggs, and become part of the group’s executive committee.

He left Clerical Medical in February 2010 after a restructure following the merger of the insurance arms of HBOS and Lloyds. He joins from ANZ Banking Corporation where he was managing director, wealth based in Sydney, Australia.

Van Der Wielen will have responsibility for all of the group’s international businesses. These include Friends Provident International, fpb AG - FPI’s German distribution partner, Lombard, and AmLife in Malaysia.

Briggs says: “John is a high calibre executive with the key skills and experience to drive the international business forward. He brings with him tremendous knowledge of running international businesses.  This will help enable us to meet our financial targets in this area.”

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