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IAG top lawyer leaves after insurer claims he breached its code of conduct
Insurance Australia Group has parted with its top lawyer, saying his behaviour fell short of its code of conduct.
Peter Horton, the insurer’s group general counsel and company secretary, will leave the company and cease as its secretary effective immediately, IAG said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning.
IAG chief executive Nick Hawkins said the insurer had concluded Horton’s behaviour didn’t meet the expectations for behaviour set in the group’s employee code of ethics and conduct.
“This includes the importance of being inclusive and respectful, and we will hold people to account if they fail to meet these expectations,” Hawkins said.
Horton joined IAG in 2019 and was previously executive manager of legal, governance and risk at TransGrid, group general counsel of QBE Insurance and Woolworths and general legal manager at WMC Resources. He was also principal solicitor at BHP Petroleum and is a non-executive director at not-for-profit organisation Business for Development (B4D), which aims to reduce extreme poverty through inclusive economic growth.
On Wednesday, he was no longer listed on IAG’s website. The company said the search for a replacement for Horton would commence shortly.
Shares in IAG were trading 2.8 per cent higher at $6.08 at midday AEDT.
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Millie Muroi is the economics writer at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. She was formerly an economics correspondent based in Canberra’s Press Gallery and the banking writer based in Sydney.Connect via X or email.