27 October 2008
Key Points:
Brian Salter carved out an outstanding career at CU over more than 25 years before taking up the role of General Counsel and Company Secretary at AMP Limited, one of Australia's largest and best known financial services organisations, in July this year. We spoke to Brian about how he has found the transition from private to in-house practice, and the highlights of his time at CU.
During your time at CU, you forged a reputation as one of the market's outstanding financial services lawyers, particularly in the area of securitisation. How have you been able to adapt your skills to your role at AMP?
Given we are facing probably the greatest credit crisis that has hit the world in over 50 to 60 years, I think it is probably very timely from AMP's perspective to have a senior level finance law specialist who can help guide them through the crisis, analyse the position from a legal perspective as developments unfold, and identify opportunities and alternative approaches.
Did you have any expectations of what it would be like to work in-house? How have you found the transition?
I didn't really have an idea of how my life would be on a daily basis or the types of matters that I would meet other than that I was going to work in a financial services organisation. I thought that the core legal competencies would be ones that I would be familiar with and that is the case. I probably did not appreciate how multidimensional the role is, the focus on M&A and strategy being an example. But I am certainly enjoying the challenges of the new role.
What does an average day for you entail?
It does vary and that is probably one of the great attractions of the job - there is a diverse menu of work that crosses your desk. Currently ninety-five percent of my day involves assessing implications from the credit crisis and its various manifestations, including understanding our exposures to counterparties and helping mitigate those, as well as assisting with funding options. In these markets there are also emerging M&A opportunities for such a strong institution as AMP as the market witnesses a substantial revaluation of financial assets and businesses, so M&A represents a substantial portion of my day. Then there is the actual management of and setting the strategic direction for the company secretariat and the legal team.
As a member of the AMP leadership team, I will also have the opportunity to become involved at a board level in the strategic direction and other elements of AMP, which is really valuable. AMP also has a number of subsidiary boards and businesses and I am about to be appointed as chairman of our superannuation company, AMP Super, which has over $40 billion of assets, so that will also occupy my time.
How would you describe your time at Clayton Utz? What were some of the highlights?
I could not have wished for more. Clayton Utz gave me some fantastic opportunities. It allowed me to go into management and it backed my confidence to build a securitisation and structured finance team. I worked with some of the most talented people in law and I have had a great suite of clients over the years. I witnessed as the firm transformed itself from a relatively small and second tier law firm when I arrived to one that is now firmly entrenched in the first tier and is one of Australia's largest law firms, doing some of Australia's best work. If there is a major transaction in the market, Clayton Utz will be involved. I had a fantastic time.
The enduring contributions I most appreciate and value are to do with clients and people. These include introducing or working with clients such as Commonwealth Bank, Macquarie, BankWest, Colonial, Adelaide Bank, Suncorp and Bank of Queensland and NAB over the years. I am proud to have left behind such a strong team in Ninian (Lewis), Angela (Flannery), Sonia (Goumenis), Karolina (Popic), Ben (Sandstad) and Louise (McCoach). I am also proud of my time in management. It was tough times for banking and I was very happy to be able to turn around the team and give it a sense of strategic direction, including introducing key clients and promoting new talent into the team. It was a tough time but one that I really value.
You have a particular interest in archaeology. Have you been able to pursue this interest in recent times?
I still have a great love of it but I've not recently been able to pursue it. I would pick it up in a flash if I could. Certainly [my wife] Brigit knows when we travel overseas if there is an interesting archaeological site nearby, there is a good chance that we will go via it. It still fascinates me - along with fishing (freshwater and also salt water). Archaeology and fishing are probably the planets that rotate around me, apart of course from my family and work.
