Another UK recruit has landed a senior role at just weeks after the regulator named Daniel Trinder as executive director strategy and design.
Peter Taylor joins the FMA from the UK Business Banking Resolution Service (BBRS) in April as specialist supervision director. Taylor was a colleague of current FMA chief, Samantha Barrass, both at the BBRS and his previous employer, the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission.
“Peter is a high calibre appointment for the FMA, bringing broad regulatory knowledge and expertise to the complex cases we deal with, he will contribute significantly to our Response & Enforcement function,” Barrass said in a release.
Among other duties, Taylor will have responsibility for ‘specialist’ areas such as the regulatory perimeter.
Like Barrass, he is also an ex-pat Kiwi. Taylor held senior legal roles in NZ, including an almost five-year stint for the Customs Department ending in 2016 when he took up the Gibraltar job. Prior to Customs, he served a brief interlude as a Waterfront Chambers barrister following about 10 years as Commerce Commission general counsel.
Meanwhile, the FMA has also promoted Michael Hewes and John Horner to respective director positions of deposit-taking insurance and advice, and, markets investors and reporting.
Hewes has spent seven years at the FMA, most recently as head of financial advice while Horner joined the regulator in 2020 as a senior solicitor (bumped up to acting head of corporate legal last year).
“Michael and John will be responsible for leading the FMA’s frontline supervision teams to influence improved standards of conduct and disclosure across New Zealand’s financial services sector,” Barrass said.
The three new director appointments almost complete the FMA senior executive suite refurbishment begun last year.
Trinder will fill one of the last remaining executive-level vacancies at the NZ regulator when he assumes the strategy and design role in June.
Previously, he was head of government affairs and policy for the UK arm of controversial cryptocurrency exchange, Binance. The headquarterless Binance, which has had several clashes with the UK Financial Conduct Authority, halted UK pound deposits and withdrawals after losing its payments partner in the country.
Elsewhere last week, Nikko Asset Management has hired Kady Buchanan as senior relationships manager,
Buchanan comes to Nikko as the manager embarks on a leadership refresh with the looming departure of chief, George Carter, and head of distribution, James Wesley.
She replaces Sam Bryden, who steps up as head of distribution while Wesley moves to the US as deputy chief executive for the Nikko Americas business.
Long-time Nikko head of equities, Stuart Williams, assumes the managing director title once Carter officially exits at the end of this month.
Prior to Nikko, Buchanan spent almost 11 years as in real estate sales for the Hong Kong-based Habitat Property. She also spent almost five years in institutional equity sales for UBS in the US and London.
“With her international experience, market knowledge and interpersonal skills, Kady presented as the outstanding candidate to fill this role and we’re delighted to welcome her on board,” Williams said in a statement.