Aviva’s chairman has warned that he will not tolerate disrespectful behaviour from shareholders at its annual meeting, as the insurer tries avoid a repeat of last year’s event when misogynistic comments were targeted at its chief executive.
George Culmer has cautioned investors that “unacceptable behaviour will not be tolerated” at next month’s meeting after sexist comments were made towards Amanda Blanc last May.
It is the first such notice aimed at Aviva shareholders before the insurer’s annual meeting, which last year fell into controversy when several small shareholders at the London meeting took aim at Blanc – who took the helm at Aviva in July 2020 – saying she was “not the man for the job” and should be “wearing trousers”.
Culmer was the first to hit back, tellings offending shareholders at the time that he was “flabbergasted” at the “simply inappropriate” comments, and that they should not be repeated at any future AGM.
To avoid any doubt, Culmer has issued a fresh warning in Aviva’s latest AGM notice, saying that – while Aviva was committed to “open and constructive dialogue” with investors – he expected courtesy and respect from attenders travelling to Norwich for the 4 May event.
“We are committed to an open and constructive dialogue with you, our shareholders, and we see the AGM as an important forum to listen to your views and answer your questions. I’d like to encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity,” Culmer said in his letter to shareholders.
“We also believe it is important that those attending the AGM behave with courtesy and with respect for others, and therefore unacceptable behaviour will not be tolerated at the meeting.”
The AGM notice did not detail what would be considered a removable offence, meaning it will be up to Culmer’s board, and hired security, to determine what kind of comments could result in shareholders being thrown out.
Last year’s events were in marked contrast to Aviva’s previous AGMs, which were relatively tame affairs compared with those held by fellow FTSE 100 companies – particularly those in the banking or oil sector, which often draw scandal victims, irate customers and environmental protesters.
Aviva declined to comment further.
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Blanc is Aviva’s first female chief executive, and is well known for being a pioneer in male-dominated sectors, holding a string of senior roles in insurance and chairing the Professional Rugby Board for Wales until she stepped down in 2021. She was appointed the government’s women in finance champion in March that year.
Blanc herself spoke out days after the incident, saying that while she was “pretty used to sexist and derogatory comments” throughout her 30-year career in financial services, she had faced more misogynistic behaviour as her career progressed.
Blanc said she hoped the insurance sector would achieve gender equality and could “slowly eradicate this type of occurrence for the next generation. But in truth that seems a long way off; even with the help of some fantastically supportive men who speak out on the issue.”
