Life insurer TAL has hired a UK start-up entrepreneur for a new role that focuses on innovation throughout the business.
The company has appointed Tim Thorne to the chief innovation and disruption officer position to integrate innovation into all parts of the business.
Thorne will be migrating from United Kingdom to take up the position in early November.
He previously co-founded a specialist growth and innovation consultancy called Edengene.
He also worked as group innovation director for the Royal Bank of Scotland where he developed products such as mobile banking, teenage banking and card-less ATM withdrawals.
"I am very excited to join TAL in bringing to customers different solutions to meet their financial protection needs," Thorne said.
"With life under-insurance in Australia at an incredible $10.6 trillion, we have a lot of work to do to close the gap and ensure people are adequately covered should they not be able to work again."
Thorne was also innovation director at Cancer Research UK where he created the most successful telethon for cancer research on UK commercial television.
TAL Group CEO Jim Minto said the role of chief innovation and disruption officer aims to consider ideas and innovations that fulfil customer demands.
"Tim brings a wealth of experience as an innovator and disruptor of the status quo to provide solutions for customers that businesses had not considered before," he said.
"He has an impressive track record in introducing innovations that connect with contemporary consumer behaviour. The appointment steps up the focus on customer-driven innovation at TAL."
