Kiwi Wealth has seen another high-profile departure following the resignation of acting chief investment officer, Susan Easton.
Easton, a veteran of the Kiwi Wealth team dating back to its earlier guise as Gareth Morgan Investments, resigned last week, the government-owned business confirmed.
“Susan Easton has tendered her resignation as Kiwi Wealth’s acting CIO and head of portfolio management and private capital,” a spokesperson for the group said.
Her exit comes just three months after long-time CIO, Simon O’Grady, left Kiwi Wealth while the group’s chief executive officer, Ian Burns, ended his tenure this February.
In July Kiwi Wealth head of retail, Melissa Vasta, also resigned after a final four-year stint at the firm. Vasta took over the head of retail role last year from Joe Bishop, who moved to head the Police Credit Union. As well, head of wholesale sales at sister firm Kiwi Invest, Matthew Laing, exited in June after 18 months in the role.
Acting Kiwi Wealth chief, Rhiannon McKinnon, said in a release: “Since joining Kiwi Wealth in 2006, Susan has made an important contribution to the success of Kiwi Wealth’s investment performance and the management of private equity investments and our broader portfolios.
“Earlier this year Susan stepped into the role of acting CIO to lead our talented and high-performing investment team. She will help us with an orderly transition as we complete a full recruitment process for Kiwi Wealth’s next CIO. In the meantime our capable team will step up to fulfil the key tasks of the role.”
In another internal move, Kiwi Wealth named Morne Redgard in a new role as chief customer officer. Previously head of digital and customer experience as well as acting head of advice, Redgard joined Kiwi Wealth in 2019 after emigrating from South Africa.
“Morne brings a wide range of technical expertise across digital, product and advice as well as senior leadership experience and a highly collaborative style, which has led to his successful promotion,” McKinnon said.
Kiwi Wealth is currently engaged in a major back-office transformation ahead of the shift to the new default KiwiSaver regime this December, appointing MMC to shift to a new daily unit pricing model.
It is understood the group has also sold its US direct share-trading unit, Hatch, to fellow Wellington-based firm, FNZ.