Craigs Investment Partners chief operating officer (COO), Ryan Bacher, has resigned after just over two years in the role.
It is understood Bacher is returning to his previous employer, the UK-headquartered financial institution Barclays, to take up a high-powered position in Paris.
Prior to joining Craigs in April 2020 as inaugural COO he served as Barclays International regional COO for Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East.
The nationwide wealth management group, boasting some $27 billion in assets and more than 170 advisers, has a seen a raft of management changes over the last couple of years.
As well as Bacher, Craigs named Jeremy Williamson and Tim Kiefte as head of private wealth and markets (a newly created role) and head of advisory, respectively, later in 2020.
Last June Simon Tong replaced interim Craigs chief executive (and founder), Neil Craig, as the permanent head. Previous chief, Frank Aldridge, stepped down last March after 16 years in charge.
Finally, Rebecca Callaghan, took over as chief financial officer for NZ wealth management powerhouse last November, in place of 25-year veteran in the role, Ken Philip.
Aside from the management refresh, Craigs is reportedly about to upgrade its private wealth management technology with a new platform provided by the Nasdaq-listed SS&C Technologies.
Craigs has long used local provider Chelmer for its private wealth investment administration while moving its funds management products (offered under the QuayStreet label) to the new NZX Wealth Technologies platform in 2018 as the foundation and largest client.
While the managed funds business amounts to about $1 billion, the wider private wealth management represents $20 billion plus and a significant win for any administration software provider: NZX Wealth Technologies was in the frame to pick up the business.
However, according to industry sources, Craigs has opted for the SS&C ‘Aloha’ service, which the financial technology giant describes as “an all new investment operations platform that provides extensive asset class and functional support across the front, middle and back office”.
The cloud-based system, sporting obligatory artificial intelligence credentials, features “critical business intelligence via machine learning, workflow engine and KPI and system health monitoring”, the SS&C blurb says, ending an era of “patchwork operations and disparate systems”.
Craigs was unable to comment prior to publication time.