NZ financial services legal heavyweight, Tracey Cross, has joined the Mint Asset Management board as an independent director.
Cross, who served almost 18 years as a partner at DLA Piper, also takes on the chair role on the Mint audit, risk and compliance committee.
She replaces Amanda Livingstone, who exited the Mint board in March following her appointment as head of investments for Public Trust.
After leaving DLA Piper last September, Cross established her own company offering advice across the NZ financial services industry.
In 2019 she was appointed as independent director of life insurer, AIA NZ, serving on both the audit and risk, and remuneration committees.
A long-time champion of gender diversity in the financial services sector, Cross was instrumental in forming both the ‘Leadership Alliance of Women’ at DLA Piper and ‘Women in Super’ (currently chairing the organisation).
Furthermore, she co-chairs the Financial Services Council (FSC) Diversity and Inclusion initiative “and is leading the national ‘It Starts with Action’ campaign focused on improving the financial wellbeing of women”, according to a release.
The FSC ‘It Starts with Action’ summit will take place this Thursday at the Auckland Park Hyatt (with a livestream option).
Brett Sutton, Mint Asset Management chair, said in the statement: “Tracey is a welcomed addition to the board. She brings a great depth of knowledge and expertise that will help guide Mint in the years ahead, as it grows as a leading funds management provider.”
Mint is now part of the Amplifi group, which is building up a portfolio of diversified financial services businesses in NZ.
Meanwhile, Australian exchange-traded fund (ETF) specialist, BetaShares, is gearing-up for its NZ launch after forming a new local company and signing on to the Financial Services Providers Register (FSPR).
BetaShares, which last reported about A$22 billion under management across more than 60 ASX-listed ETFs, has long planned a move into NZ, hiring former Smartshares head of institutional, Thom Bentley, last year to lead the business this side of the Tasman.
The Australian ETF giant is aiming to launch NZ-domiciled products later this year with efforts underway to gain a managed investment scheme licence from the Financial Markets Authority.
Last week BetaShares formally joined the FSPR to provide services of “keeping, investing, administering, or managing money, securities, or investment portfolios on behalf of other persons”.
Earlier in July the ETF firm also formed a new corporate entity, BetaShares Capital NZ, naming the firm’s founder, Alex Vynokur, and chief financial officer, Jason Gellert, as directors along with TA Associates managing director, Ed Sippel.
TA Associates, which also has stakes in Fisher Funds and Russell Investments, owns more than half of BetaShares after buying out shares previously held by Korean fund manager, Mirae Asset Management, last year.
Also last week, multi-affiliate funds management group, Franklin Templeton, promoted Felicity Walsh to head its Australia and NZ business.
Walsh moves up from her current Australasian head of sales role to join the senior regional leadership group.
Prior to joining Franklin Templeton seven years ago as head of an underlying manager – hedge fund, K2 Advisors – she served an 11-year stint with investment consultancy firm, Willis Tower Watson, advising large funds in both Australia and the UK.
“We are well positioned to meet a variety of challenges in our industry through our breadth of world-class specialised investment managers with expertise across asset classes, geographies, and investment vehicles,” Walsh said in a release.
The US-listed Franklin Templeton bought multi-affiliate investment business, Legg Mason, in 2020, bringing a range of fund managers familiar in NZ – most notably alternative fixed income specialist, Brandywine Global – under its brand.