Public Trust has named Glenys Talivai as CEO, replacing incumbent, Bob Smith, who announced his retirement last year.
Talivai formally arrives at Public Trust this March from Tower Insurance where she has been head of customer acquisition, retention and claims since 2014.
Previously, she held senior management roles at the Medical Assurance Society and ANZ.
In a statement Public Trust chair, Ian Fitzgerald, says: “We’re excited to have Glenys joining the team. She brings experience, energy and a strong customer focus, making her the perfect candidate to deliver the next phase of our business strategy.”
Smith retires from Public Trust after serving five years as CEO.
Meanwhile, former ANZ Investments CIO, Graham Ansell, has joined the growing community of licensed independent trustees (LITs) vying for spots on restricted scheme boards.
Ansell earned his LIT stripes last month, bringing the total pool of independent trustees to 39 (including three corporate trustees).
Under the Financial Markets Conduct Act (FMC) rules all restricted scheme boards must include a LIT. The Disclose website lists some 85 workplace savings schemes and five KiwiSaver schemes that fall under the restricted mantle.
After a more than 20-year career with ANZ, the last five as CIO, Ansell resigned last March from the country’s biggest private funds management firm.
The ANZ investment business manages about $28 billion, of which about $13 billion comes by way of the bank’s three KiwiSaver schemes.
Following Ansell’s departure last year, ANZ appointed Paul Huxford as chief investment officer. The bank-owned funds business has also yet to announce a permanent head of Australian equities to replace the now Devon Funds Management CIO, Mark Brown.
Brown took up the Devon role last January after giving notice the previous August.
Meanwhile, the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has approved Wellington-based financial advisory firm, Foxplan, as a qualifying financial entity (QFE). The FMA currently lists 56 QFEs, which are largely banks, insurance companies or other financial product suppliers. QFEs take on responsibility for sales staff and advisers (either in-house or external) who operate under their banners.
The QFE designation will be obsolete once the, almost-passed, Financial Services Legislation Amendment Bill (FSLAB) comes into force. Under FSLAB every advisory firm will have to be licensed as a Financial Advice Provider (FAP), potentially allowing all to operate as quasi-QFEs.
FSLAB is currently languishing at 20 on the parliamentary to-do list – awaiting house committee and third reading – but is slated to launch into transition phase during the fourth quarter of this year.
