Brett Cairns quits Magellan

Magellan Financial Group chief executive Brett Cairns has resigned for personal reasons after just two years at the helm.

In a release to the Australian Securities Exchange, the fund manager said Cairns will be replaced in the interim by finance chief Kirsten Morton.

Morton has held the role of chief financial officer for eight years.

Hamish Douglass will continue as the fund's executive chairman.

In the release, Douglass described Cairns as a long-standing and key member of the Magellan team.

He also said: "Kirsten is ideally positioned to take on the responsibilities and drive Magellan forward."

"She has a detailed understanding of the company and its operations having joined the senior management team in 2013."

Cairns joined Magellan's board in 2007 as a non-executive director before being transferred to our executive ranks in 2017, initially as executive chairman in 2015 then as chief executive in 2019.

"Brett was instrumental in the development of Magellan's exchange-traded products and the development of Magellan's retirement product FuturePay," noted Douglass.

Recent data reveals that Magellan's global equities fund has underperformed the MSCI World ex Australia index by 14.8 percent over one year, by 5 percent over three years, and by 1.75 percent over five years.

Magellan recently took a 40 percent stake in investment bank Barrenjoey.

Cairns has a seat on the Barrenjoey board.