Kiwibank poaches executives

KIWIBANK has raided its rival Australianowned banks to poach two new senior executives.

Mike Hendriksen joined the stateowned bank yesterday as chief legal officer. He was previously assistant general counsel and chief compliance officer at Westpac New Zealand.

Mr Hendriksen was with Westpac for nearly seven years and previously worked for Inland Revenue.

The loss will be a blow to Westpac at a time when bank compliance is heavily under the spotlight.

All New Zealand banks are due to report back to the Financial Markets Authority and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand by March on their progress with meeting conduct and culture shortfalls highlighted by the regulators last year.

Steve Jurkovich, Kiwibank chief executive, who took over the top job last year after a move from ASB, said Mr Hendriksen was a highly qualified barrister and solicitor.

‘‘Mike will bring indepth knowledge of regulatory issues. He’s been deeply involved in the response to the findings of the Australian Royal Commission that sparked both the FMA and RBNZ’s review of banking conduct and culture.’’

Mr Jurkovich said Mr Hendriksen would be instrumental in helping Kiwibank consider its own changes — both in response to the changing expectations of its stakeholders, and for local regulators, who wanted to see evidence of great customer outcomes.

Elliot Smith will also join Kiwibank, next week, as its chief strategy and innovation officer.

Mr Smith was previously ASB’s general manager of strategy and business transformation.

Mr Jurkovich said the industry was facing disruption and Mr Smith had an excellent understanding of how to make the most of those opportunities.

Both men will be based in Kiwibank’s Auckland office. —NZME