Perpetual chief executive Geoff Lloyd has revealed further details about the company's planned 300 job losses, including the divisions that will be directly affected.
Lloyd told InvestorDaily yesterday that the cuts would be felt in the corporate, management and sales support, operations and property sectors, while client- and revenue-facing jobs would be preserved.
Jobs have also been axed at an executive level, with Lloyd's direct reports being cut from 11 to six since he took over as Perpetual's chief in February.
He said Perpetual's "rapid expansion over the last 10 years has added unnecessary complexity", adding that it was "time to shed that complexity and refocus on our core strengths".
Perpetual will slash 40 per cent of its workforce as it cuts 300 full-time equivalents (FTE) and sells its lenders' mortgage services business, which employs 280 FTEs - with the buyer to be announced in August.
The cuts, announced yesterday, are part of Perpetual's three-year restructuring program.
Lloyd said ongoing annual cost savings of $50 million pre-tax in the 2015 financial year would be delivered through asset sales and business reorganisation.
"These cost savings are equivalent to 18 per cent of the FY12 (2012 financial year) normalised cost base," he said.
In the past year, he said, a $7 million or 3 per cent reduction of the 2012 financial year normalised cost base had already been made by entering into an agreement with Wellington Management Company and closing the loss-making Dublin-based international share funds manufacturing capability.
The company would also cut directors' remuneration by 30 per cent or $500,000 from 1 July. The chairman's remuneration would be cut 42 per cent and non-executive directors' pay would be cut 25 per cent.
Perpetual chairman Peter Scott said that when Lloyd was appointed chief, one of his key priorities was to cut the group's cost base.
Directors had used an independent external consultant to benchmark Perpetual against comparable companies and asked shareholders what they thought was appropriate remuneration.
Scott said the cuts to board costs showed "we are committed to a company-wide review to enable Perpetual to support a return to growth in value for shareholders".
Perpetual had $22.9 billion in funds under management at 31 May 2012, compared to $23.7 billion as at 31 March 2012.
