MetLife Australia has named a former senior manager at BT Financial Group to be its new chief executive.

MetLife Australia, the local subsidiary of global insurance firm MetLife, has named a former senior manager at BT Financial Group to be its new chief executive.

Effective mid-July 2014, Deanne Stewart takes over from Damien Green, the head of employee benefits in Asia who has been serving as interim CEO since February after Marc Lieberman left. She reports to Dr Nirmala Menon, the senior vice president and head of designated markets and health in Asia. 

Stewart brings over 20 years of financial services experience to the role, most recently serving as general manager for super, marketing and direct at BT Financial. Prior to that, she was general manager for customer experience and marketing. Before BT, she was the managing director and head of international private client businesses for Merrill Lynch Investment Management. 

Early this month, the company announced that it is hiring over 30 new staffers across claims, product and pricing, client relationship and finance. MetLife is the fourth largest insurer in the country by market share, accounting for 10.3 per cent as at December 2013.