Nikko Asset Management has named Kea NZ global chief, Craig Donaldson, to its board, replacing outgoing director, Tracey Berry.
Berry, a well-known figure in NZ financial services, has returned to an executive role in the industry as general manager in the TSB wealth business. At various times over the last 15 years she has served as head of wealth management for three NZ banks – Kiwibank, BNZ and Westpac.
TSB (via the TSB Community Trust) is the majority owner of KiwiSaver provider Fisher Funds, creating a potential conflict of interest for Berry if she remained on the board of Nikko, which launched its own scheme last year.
The Nikko KiwiSaver scheme had about $5 million under management and 60 members at the end of September this year.
Donaldson is global chief of the Kiwi networking business co-founded by Sir Stephen Tindall, Kea NZ. Kea boasts about 500,000 NZ ex-pat members with an aim “to connect with one another and with home to find global opportunities”.
As well as serving on a number of other boards (including newly-launched digital commercial property syndicator, Jasper) he held a number of senior finance roles from 1989 to 2005 for Bankers Trust, Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch and Royal Bank of Scotland.
The Nikko NZ board also includes local chief, George Carter; global Nikko executive, Kiyotaka Ryu; and, independent director, Tracey Jones (who takes over the chair role).
Meanwhile, My Food Bag co-founder, Cecilia Robinson, joined as a director of Pie Funds last week.
In a statement, Robinson said her focus at the $1 billion Pie “will not only be on the performance of the business but on the people and marketing strategy that will underpin our next significant growth chapter ahead”.
Pie has 10 managed fund products in addition to the Juno KiwiSaver, which launched last year soon after the Nikko scheme.
At the end of September this year, Juno reported about $70 million in funds under management on behalf of over 3,000 members.
Mike Taylor, Pie chief, said in the release that Juno added a further 1,000 members in October, “our biggest month” to date.
“However there’s always more to do. Cecilia’s experience in marketing, and her people and culture focus will help prepare us for new challenges,” Taylor said in the statement.
Pie abandoned an earlier attempt to sell part of its business in July at a reported valuation of about $100 million. Taylor said at the time the Pie would proceed instead according to “an internal management proposal”.
In other appointment news, BNP Paribas recently reshuffled its executive deck, shifting former Asia Pacific chief risk officer, Karine Delvallée, to head of territory for Australia and NZ.
Delvallée replaces James Gibson, who assumes the new BNP head of territory job in Japan. Gibson took on the Australasia gig in 2015 after serving three years as BNP head of regional human resources Asia Pacific, based in Hong Kong.
Paul Yang, BNP head of corporate and institutional banking Asia Pacific, said in a statement: “Karine’s agility and pragmatism, combined with her experience across multiple markets and businesses leave her well-placed to help our Australian and New Zealand clients access deep BNP Paribas’ international network.”
In NZ, BNP provides investment back-office administration and custodial services rather than the full suite of financial services offered by the French-headquartered institution that includes banking and funds management.
Another NZ firm in the back-office world, Public Trust, appointed, Sarah Pepworth, last week in a newly-created, forward-facing role.
Public Trust hired Pepworth as general manager marketing and customer experience from NZ Steel, where she held a similar job. Prior to her two-year stint at NZ Steel, Pepworth worked at the UK telecom firm BT in several senior marketing positions.
Glenys Talivai, Public Trust chief executive, said in a statement that Pepworth’s “broad experience in customer relationship management, insights, retention and events make her ideally placed to help Public Trust further develop its voice in the market”.
Talivai replaced Bob Smith as Public Trust chief this March.
According to the 2018/19 Public Trust annual report, the government-owned trustee business recorded an after-tax profit of almost $5.6 million on revenue of about $64 million
“Net revenue was $4.0 million lower than budget due to lower than projected retail fees and investment revenue resulting from lower volume and interest margins earned on Common Fund deposits,” the report says. “This was partially offset by increased management fees from higher funds under management for the Public Trust Investment Service.”
The Public Trust Investment Service, which offers a range of funds to wealth clients via the NZX Wealth Technologies platform, had just over $700 million under management as at the end of June – up from $625 million last year.
Public Trust also has almost $320 million in the government-guaranteed Common Fund, over $3 billion in other assets under management while acting as supervisor for more than $100 billion including $25 billion across eight KiwiSaver schemes and 11 superannuation funds.