BNZ head of private bank and advisory, Donna Nicolof, has resigned to “pursue other opportunities” after a six-year career with the bank.
In a note published last week, Nicolof said she was “really proud of the business we’ve built and hope I leave a positive legacy”.
She joined BNZ in March 2013 as head of wealth and private bank from parent institution, the National Australia Bank (NAB).
Nicolof was NAB institutional banking director of wealth prior to taking up the BNZ role.
As well as steering the-then nascent BNZ KiwiSaver scheme into fast-growth mode, she oversaw the launch of the bank’s YouWealth mass-affluent fund product range in 2018.
Last September, as part of a broad restructure, BNZ split the wealth advice and product roles, appointing Nicolof as head of the former while importing another NAB executive, Peter Forster, to fill the latter position.
BNZ wealth has more than $5 billion under management including almost $2.2 billion in the KiwiSaver scheme, now the ninth largest.
Elsewhere, storied Australian fund house, Perpetual Investments, is planning a NZ comeback after years in the wilderness, appointing a sales manager to cater to advisers this side of the Tasman.
Perpetual’s Queensland business development manager, Tony Harte, has just been handed extra responsibilities as head of the NZ market in a fly-in-fly-out capacity.
Perpetual was a popular manager in the NZ market earlier this century but faded from view here over the last 10 years as it focused on the increasingly-competitive Australian market.
Founded in 1885, the once-staid Perpetual Trustees reinvented itself as an investment powerhouse in the late 1990s following a change to Australian legislation that created the ‘responsible entity’ regime.
Over the last two years Perpetual has seen net outflows of more than A$5 billion as funds under management sank to A$27.1 billion as at the end of June, according to the group’s 2018/19 financial year results released last week.
The firm has a restructure plan in place due to start in October with a new distribution manager also slated to begin later in the year.
Known primarily as an Australian equities value manager, Perpetual has diversified across a number of asset classes, including credit.
The manager has 26 funds registered in NZ under the trans-Tasman mutual recognition regime but will focus on promoting its ethical equities and credit funds here.
In the results presentation, Rob Adams, Perpetual chief, said the group would “identify and execute the right inorganic opportunities to deliver quality growth”.
Perpetual was a ‘gold’ sponsor of the Financial Advice NZ conference held in Auckland last week.
Meanwhile, AMP Capital has shaken up its property investment team in a move that has seen the exit of head of real estate funds management, Chris Judd.
In a statement, Carmel Hourigan, AMP Capital global head of real estate, said Judd had made a “significant contribution to the business over the past 13 years”.
“He has played a fundamental role in the governance, growth and management of the pooled fund and New Zealand portfolios and will work closely with the team on this transition and remains as a director on Precinct Properties until early 2020,” Hourigan said.
Following the real estate restructure, former fund manager for the AMP Capital Diversified Property Fund (ADPF), Brett Williams, has ascended to the newly-created role of retail managing director.
Other appointments in the real estate team include: Luke Briscoe as managing director, office and logistics; Merran Edwards as CFO; Kylie O’Connor as chief operating officer and separate accounts managing director; and, John Dynon as head of origination and capital
“The new integrated sector specialisation structure and bolstered client focus will best enable AMP Capital to deliver for its clients and achieve its growth strategy,” Hourigan said in the release.