Australia's AMP Appoints Ex-King & Wood Mallesons Lawyer as General Counsel
Marissa Bendyk joins Australia's largest wealth management company as general counsel for corporate and governance, coming from gas pipeline operator APA Group.
May 09, 2019 at 12:38 PM
3 minute read
The embattled AMP Ltd., Australia's largest wealth management company, has appointed former King & Wood Mallesons lawyer Marissa Bendyk as general counsel for corporate and governance.
Bendyk was most recently head corporate counsel at Australian gas pipeline operator APA Group for almost three years. Before that, she was a senior associate at King & Wood Mallesons in Melbourne for five and a half years, specialising in mergers and acquisitions, corporate advisory, securities law and corporate governance.
Bendyk succeeds David Cullen, who has been group general counsel since May 2018, after AMP terminated predecessor Brian Salter following disclosures of evidence that the company misled its regulator for a decade; at the time, Salter issued a statement denying any misconduct.
Cullen had been with the company since 2004 and previously with legacy Blake Dawson Waldron, Gilbert + Tobin and MinterEllison. Salter was a longtime Clayton Utz partner before joining AMP in 2008.
AMP was among several financial services providers embroiled in an inquiry into Australia's financial services industry for unethical practices. The inquiry, which began in December 2017 and ended with a final report published in February this year, revealed that AMP had repeatedly misled the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and that it was charging customers fees for financial advice it had no intention of providing.
AMP was hit the worst by the inquiry, according to Reuters. Its chairwoman and chief executive stepped down as a result, and the Australia-listed company lost $4 billion in market value.
King & Wood Mallesons represented AMP during the inquiry, according to a report by the Australian Financial Review, and the law firm itself was under investigation by Australian authorities for allegedly overworking lawyers and staff in its Melbourne office – the first such investigation into a law firm in Australia.
State occupational health and safety regulator WorkSafe Victoria sent King & Wood Mallesons a notice for improvement regarding employee work conditions, which included overwork and gruelling conditions from work related to AMP in the inquiry.
Related Stories:
Australia's AMP Appoints David Cullen as Group General Counsel
Australia Financial Firm Fires GC Brian Salter for Role in Alleged Cover-Up
King & Wood Mallesons Under Investigation for Overworking Lawyers in Australia
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