Somewhere in the deluge of emails in the past few weeks, I missed one on May 27 that came from Phil Anderson, Challenger’s business development manager in NSW and ACT. I wish I’d found it earlier. Anderson’s message carried news of the death earlier this year of David Stubbington.
The Rt Hon David G Stubbington, as we called him back when I was a reporter on Personal Investment magazine; Stubbo, as his friends and colleagues called him; Mr Money Shows, as he was known in the industry. He was known to many, and by varied names, but he was a singular character – one of those larger-than-life personalities that the financial services industry used to seem to nurture. Tall, gregarious; grey suit, white shirt, Legal & General tie; Stubbington had a physical presence and a persona that made an impression on a young reporter.
Stubbington isn’t the first great character from the earlier days of the industry to have passed away. It’s always an occasion for reflection when they do, but Professional Planner doesn’t make a habit of writing about them. Something about Anderson’s email struck me, though. Suddenly 30-something years didn’t seem very long ago. Before the 1987 sharemarket crash, the Asian crisis, the dot.com boom and the global financial crisis, before the product and advice failures that have reshaped the regulatory landscape, the financial services industry seemed more cohesive, more collegiate, and somehow more civilised. Stubbington was a man of those times.
The financial services industry develops at such a rapid pace, the turnover of people is great, and it’s easy to forget that the remarkable industry we know today – both product and advice – is built on the efforts and the ideas of hundreds, probably thousands, of people who have gone before.
Personal Investment magazine, owned by Fairfax, ran consumer-focused Money Shows, at which the industry’s leading financial services providers would exhibit to the public. The red, yellow, blue and green L&G umbrellas (L&G’s logo) were a prized possession, and at one such show – in Perth, I think it was – a display umbrella went missing from the L&G stand. Stubbington was upset. I never owned up.
Anderson’s email reminds me that back in 1984 Stubbington was national distribution manager for L&G. A key product back then was the insurance bond; as Anderson recalls, Stubbington designed L&G’s first single-premium product, the Investment Growth Bond. More than three decades later, this product is still winning industry awards for product features and innovation, such as the guaranteed death benefit, and it is still available under the Comminsure banner.
“He was always larger than life, with an infectiously positive attitude towards business and life in general,” Anderson says.
“Always eager to motivate others and saw every human interaction as a networking opportunity.”
Anderson recalls two of Stubbington’s favourite phrases: “We don’t have problems, only opportunities”; and “You have two ears and one mouth – use them in those proportions.”
“Stubbo excelled at public speaking, with his ability to communicate educational concepts to both the public and advisers alike,” Anderson says.
In a post on Anderson’s LinkedIn page, Trevor Matthews, who was Stubbington’s CEO at L&G, says he remembers “the larger-than-life ‘Stubbo’ very fondly”.
“He made a fantastic contribution to our old firm Legal & Gegeral and to the entire industry,” says Matthews, who after a globetrotting career in financial services is today, among other things, a non-executive director of AMP.
“He was always positive and very forward thinking. He taught me that it makes sense to associate with other positive people; you don’t need to spend lots of time with negative, pessimistic folk. Simple, but powerful. May he rest in peace.”
Anderson should have the final word: “He was a great mentor and friend to L&G staff, competitors and journalists alike and was responsible for the successful careers of many of those he crossed paths with.
“A great man and truly one of our industry’s great characters.”
