Mr Mason has been the chairman of AMP for eight years and has been a director for more than 10 years.

Mr McKeon joined the AMP Limited Board in 2013. He is a member of the audit committee and a director of AMP Capital Holdings Limited.

He is a former senior executive with Macquarie Group, and has a career spanning 30 years specialising in corporate mergers and acquisitions, fund raising and strategic advice.

Mr McKeon was made an officer of the Order of Australia in 2012, and was the Australian of the Year in 2011. He is also the chairman of CSIRO and holds a number of not-for-profit directorships.

Mr Mason said it had been a "great privilege" to be the chairman of AMP.

“During the tenure of this board, we oversaw the merger between AXA and AMP, which has delivered transformational change,” he said. “The new AMP has significant scale and capacity, market-leading products and platforms, is number one in key market segments, has an expanded financial planner footprint and is well-positioned for growth,” said Mr Mason.

The appointment of Mr McKeon leaves the company and the board in "very capable hands", he added.

AMP has also announced the retirement of Rick Allert following the end of his three-year term, as well as the appointment of Trevor Matthews as a non-executive director.