Protection challenger Guardian has promoted Katya MacLean to interim CEO to cover for CEO Simon Davis who is stepping down temporarily for personal reasons.

Mr Davis is to take an extended sabbatical for “personal reasons”, the company has said. No other details have been provided.

While Mr Davis is on leave he will also step down from his director duties. Peter Mann, former chairman, will take the role of executive chairman.

The leadership changes take place as Guardian ‘adjusts’ its workforce to meet the servicing requirements associated with the distribution agreements it has won since launch.

Peter Mann, executive chairman, said: “Guardian has seen huge demand for its proposition at a strategic level.

“The number of major distribution agreements we’ve secured in our first nine months of trading is an acceleration of our original business plan. With this rapid take-up, there has been an associated increase in onboarding and servicing requirements, so we have refocused the team to meet these new objectives.”

He continued: “I’m delighted to see Katya promoted; she has a fantastic reputation at Guardian. I look forward to supporting the team as executive chairman as we take the business on to further success.”

Guardian has partnerships in place with several distributors and its proposition is available on the IRESS, iPipeline, Synaptic and LifeQuote portals.