Outgoing Promina CEO Michael Wilkins hopes the company’s management will be retained under a merged Suncorp group – and most industry observers say they’d be amazed if they weren’t.

Amid rumours that some senior staff are becoming increasingly uncertain about their futures, Mr Wilkins told ABC Radio last week that it’s all up to Suncorp, which can’t act until after Promina shareholders vote on the takeover next Monday.

Mr Wilkins – who set up Promina seven years ago – says it’s a question for Suncorp whether Promina management personnel are offered positions.

No contracts have been offered to Promina managers yet, but Mr Wilkins believes it is not unreasonable that a new management team is still to be assembled.

“I hope there will be significant roles for them in a merged entity but it’s really a matter for Suncorp rather than one for me,” he said. “We are still two competing companies, and until such stage as the shareholders actually vote on this, it’s very difficult to become more definitive than that.”

Mr Wilkins also backed Promina’s wealth management business, which some see as a potential sale item after the merger. “I’ve always seen a well-run wealth management business as providing a differentiation in the marketplace and certainly giving us a far better spread in terms of the profit footprint that we’re able to present.

“And the growth that we showed in our financial services business of almost 21% shows the benefit of having that.”

Caution about Suncorp’s ability to easily swallow the giant Promina sandwich has been expressed by QBE CEO Frank O’Halloran, who last week told The Australian newspaper that Suncorp is paying too much for Promina and will experience huge integration issues.

“The press have pretty well covered over recent times the sort of issues that they face, like choosing a management team,” he said.