IOOF has hired former Deloitte head of financial services, John Billington, as its new head of operations after the role was vacant for 12 months.

Billington, who most recently was in a short-term role helping the LUCRF super fund get its APRA licence, replaces Darren Booth, who after departing last year recently became executive director of the Committee For Ballarat. After two weeks in the role, Billington’s top priority is tweaking the planned extension to the IOOF Portfolio Service, prior to its October 31 launch. To be known as ‘Pursuit’, the platform will allow adviser’s in IOOF’s Consultum dealer group more ability to tailor investments and fee structures for clients, Billington said. Billington has also been national operations manager for customer service at AMP, and briefly the acting chief financial officer for Axa.