The chair of the Investment Association has been hired by Legal & General Investment Management.

Helena Morrissey becomes head of personal investing after leaving her job as chief executive of Newton Investment Management, in August. She was there for 15 years.

Her role has been created from scratch and is aimed at addressing trends in technology and changing consumer behaviour, which the firm said were transforming the savings industry.

Ms Morrissey, who has long championed greater diversity and transparency in the asset management industry and the wider business community, founded the 30% Club and chairs the Diversity Project.

Legal & General said it will benefit from her expertise in this area as the company aims to achieve gender balance in the workforce through the 50/50 by 2020 initiative.

She will report into Mark Zinkula, CEO of LGIM, and will be joining LGIM’s board.

Ms Morrissey said: “I wanted a role where I could make a real difference to how the industry engages with its customers. LGIM has the potential to be not just a market leader in this space but to develop a genuinely different approach.

“We are looking forward to building a savings business with strong and direct connections with our customers, including those who have never really thought about investing before or find existing offerings off-putting. There is no doubt that the UK direct savings market is highly competitive and moving very quickly: we are looking to get to the point where we are all using technology to access funds in the same way that we use Amazon to access books. Our focus will be on building a service, not a sales process.”

She will take up her new role on 1 May 2017, subject to regulatory approval. She will continue to chair the Diversity Project, which is supported by LGIM.

Mr Zinkula said: “She is highly respected and one of the most progressive thinkers in the industry. She is passionate about understanding and meeting the needs of investors, and is the right person to lead LGIM’s direct to consumer business.”