BNZ wealth management has lost two senior staff to Fisher Funds and the NZ Superannuation Fund (NZS), respectively.
Long-time BNZ head of wealth strategy and product, Sharon Mackay, moves to Fisher next month, replacing Michael Raynes as head of third-party distribution. Raynes resigned from Fisher in January to take up a financial adviser role with Forsyth Barr in Hamilton.
An eight-year veteran at BNZ, Mackay has also worked in senior investment product positions for BT and ASB.
Charlie Noble-Beasley, the recently-appointed head of BNZ private bank, said Mackay was “instrumental in the development and success” of the bank’s retail products, including its rapidly-growing KiwiSaver scheme.
Last week Fisher also filled the chief operating officer (COO) role left vacant by Vedran Babic, who formally took up his new job as MMC chief executive this month.
Originally from Wellington, Nilesh Mistry, will move from his current Singapore-based role as Asia-Pacific head of specialist IT firm, World Wide Technology (WWT).
Prior to WWT, Mistry spent 10 years in senior technology positions for JP Morgan in Singapore and New York, where he most recently was chief technology officer in charge of JP Morgan’s digital consumer banking.
Mistry began his career in Australasia, serving in various high-level technology roles with Citigroup over nine years before a two-year stint as Westpac IT program director in Sydney.
Meanwhile, the NZS has picked up George Thomson from BNZ as a portfolio manager for the external investments and partnerships team.
Thomson joined BNZ as senior investment analyst mid-2018 following a three-year institutional consulting career at Russell Investments NZ.
In a statement, Del Hart, head of external investments and partnerships, said Thomson was “ hugely experienced in international fixed interest and alternative investments, and brings a complementary set of skills to our team”.
“He also has experience in responsible investment policies and how they flow through into investment strategy, which continues to be a key area of focus for us,” Hart said. “We look forward to tapping his knowledge and networks to help the Fund grow.”
NZS has almost $48 billion in funds under management. The fast-growing BNZ manages over $5 billion in retail funds, about half of which comes courtesy of its KiwiSaver scheme.
BNZ revamped its KiwiSaver scheme last year, slashing fees and shifting to a passive investment style for global equities and fixed income.
Peter Forster, BNZ wealth general manager, said Thomson had “been with us during a period of great growth and change for our wealth business”.
“Some of the many things George has been involved in include our move to a low-cost, high-quality KiwiSaver offering that has seen our KiwiSaver FUM close to breaking through the $3b mark, and the increasing sophistication of our approach to responsible investing,” Forster said in a release. “We are currently recruiting to fill the vacancy.”
Also last week, Harbour Asset Management, named former Fisher senior portfolio manager, Murray Brown, as independent director.
Brown steps in for the departing, Wayne Stechman, who leaves the Harbour board in March after serving as director since the manager’s inception some 10 years ago.
Like Stechman, who had a long career at Tower Asset Management, Brown has strong investment credentials both at Fisher and previously at First NZ Capital (now known as Jarden).
He has also been on the board of the Government Superannuation Fund and Yachting NZ.
Graeme Wong, Harbour chair, said in a statement that Brown’s “extensive knowledge and experience in both governance and investment markets will be invaluable as Harbour enters its second decade managing Kiwi’s money”.