Fisher Funds appoints new CEO

In a statement to investors this morning, managing director Carmel Fisher said McLachlan would take over on April 18.

She said he had a wealth of experience in the sector and a passion for client service.

"When we began our search for a new chief executive, we wanted someone who understood and was excited about maintaining and growing the wealth of New Zealanders. We wanted someone who would maintain our longstanding performance record and our commitment to exceptional client service. Bruce was an obvious choice for the role," she said.

McLachlan has been chief executive of The Co-Operative Bank for the past four years. Before that, he worked for 10 years at Westpac NZ, where his roles included leading both its business banking and retail banking businesses; he was also Westpac NZ's acting chief executive during 2008/9.

"I know that you will warmly welcome Bruce and we hope you will take the opportunity to meet him during our roadshow in May/June," she said. "As previously advised, I will continue to be a shareholder, director, member of the Investment Committee and very interested observer of Fisher Funds. Thank you for your continued support and interest in Fisher Funds. We have an exciting future ahead of us."

McLachlan said Fisher Funds' values aligned closely with what he had been doing over recent years. He said it was a customer-orientated company, that was not bureaucratic.  "I think they've got a great opportunity to continue growing in the New Zealand market. They are quite different to other providers."

For the past three years, The Co-Operative Bank has been distributing Fisher Funds' KiwiSaver product. "I've been working with them for a number of years and feel that confidence in them," he said. "We've put a lot of Co-Operative Bank customers into their KiwiSaver."

McLachlan has been commuting to Wellington for his bank role, so the Auckland-based Fisher role appealed for personal reasons, too, he said.