Graham Ansell, head of NZ’s largest fund manager, has resigned after serving more than two decades with ANZ.
Ansell, who has been chief investment officer for the $28 billion plus ANZ Investments for five years, will be replaced in the interim by Paul Huxford next month.
In a statement, ANZ said Huxford was an “experienced NZ executive” with a number of investment institutions including JP Morgan, Macquarie Bank, and BT in Australia and NZ.
ANZ has yet to replace former head of Australian equities, Mark Brown, who resigned last August to take up a position with Devon Funds Management. This month another senior ANZ Investments executive, John Middleton, also exited for a role with Auckland boutique firm, Mint Asset Management.
The bank, along with most other Australian-owned institutions, has been reviewing wealth operations of late with the NZ division’s insurance arm on the block. An ANZ spokesperson denied the bank was sounding out potential buyer appetite for the ANZ Investments business as well.
Craig Mulholland, ANZ head of wealth NZ, said the bank would begin an external and internal search for Ansell’s replacement.