Old Mutual shares fell the most on record after it suspended Chief Executive Officer Peter Moyo following a "material breakdown in trust and confidence" between him and the insurer’s board.
The board came to the decision following rounds of engagements with Moyo and the company, it said in a statement on Friday. Old Mutual Chief Operating Officer Iain Williamson will step into the role of acting CEO, Old Mutual said.
Moyo has led the 174-year-old insurer for a year and is also a Nedbank Group Ltd. board member.
He has held various other company board memberships, including Vodacom, where he was chairman, Alexander Forbes and Transnet, the state rail and ports company that’s at the center of corruption claims.
Old Mutual fell as much as 6% at the start of trade, the most since its Johannesburg listing in June 2018, and was 3.5% lower at R20.95 at 09:18. by 10:30 the insurer's shares had recovered much of their earlier losses to trade 0.8% down at R21.50.
* Fin24 contributed to this report.