Hibernian appoints new finance director

5th February 2007

Hibernian Group Chief Executive, Stuart Purdy, today announced the appointment of Michael Murphy to the position of Group Finance Director of Hibernian. Michael takes over the role vacated by the appointment of Jackie Hunt as Finance Director of Norwich Union.

Michael joins Hibernian from Canada Life where he held the role of Finance Director and Chief Actuary for Canada Life Ireland and Canada Life Europe. Prior to this he spent 10 years with Watson Wyatt, commencing his career with them in the UK where he primarily worked in the areas of capital management and mergers and acquisitions. Michael returned to Ireland in 2000 to establish Watson Wyatt’s Irish Insurance and Financial Services consulting business. This grew to become one of the leading insurance consulting businesses in Ireland. In 2003 Michael took on global responsibility for the business development, sales and marketing of Watson Wyatt’s Actuarial Modelling Software, VIP. Michael worked with Lifetime Assurance until 1995, where he trained as an actuary. He is a fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and Society of Actuaries in Ireland.

Stuart Purdy, commenting on the announcement said, “Michael has an excellent track record with very strong commercial ability. His strategic understanding and business acumen will prove strong assets as he works to deliver Hibernian Group’s finance agenda. We very much look forward to having Michael on-board.”

Michael Murphy said: “My main focus will be on working with the company’s excellent management team to maintain the strong performance of Hibernian Group. With a market leading General Insurance operation and the continued growth of its life businesses through the integration of Hibernian Life & Pensions and Ark Life, I am very much looking forward to leading the finance teams to strengthen Hibernian’s place as the leading insurer in Ireland.”

Michael takes up his position in April.

About Hibernian

• Hibernian Group is Ireland’s largest composite insurer, ranked first for general insurance and top three for life and pensions.
• Hibernian Group is a subsidiary of Aviva plc, the world’s fifth-largest insurance group and the UK’s largest insurance services provider (based on gross worldwide premiums at 31 December 2005), and is one of the leading providers of life and pension products to Europe, with substantial positions in other markets around the world. Aviva employs 58,000 staff worldwide.
• Aviva’s principal business activities are long-term savings, fund management and general insurance, with worldwide total sales of £41.5 billion and assets under management of £364 billion at 31 December 2006.
• Morley is the UK-based asset management business of Aviva plc. Firms within the Morley group of companies manage £169bn (€247bn) from offices around the world as at 30 April 2007.
• With a strong track record in the property arena, Morley has seven European property funds focusing on a range of sectors and markets and over the last 24 months has acquired over 50 properties in 11 countries. These funds account for over €1.1bn of European assets under management.
• In 2006 Morley Fund Management won two awards at the Central and Eastern European Real Estate Quality awards taking ‘Outstanding Company of the Year’ and ‘Investor of the Year’ for its Central European Property activities.
• The product information above is for press release purposes only; full details are contained in the product literature available from Hibernian.
• The value of property investments is generally a matter of valuer’s opinion rather than fact. In addition, property investments may not always be readily saleable and very occasionally there may be constraints on cashing in units.
• The value of investments abroad may rise and fall due to exchange rate movements.

Media enquiries:

Alan Tyrrell
+ 353 1 898 5452

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