BNZ chairman close to work

Press, 23 February 1989, Page 2

BNZ chairman close to work

By

PATTRICK SMELLIE,

in Wellington

The new chairman of the Bank of New Zealand, Mr Frank Pearson, will find it hard to get away from work in the next few months.

As investment manager for the Colonial Mutual General Insurance Company, Ltd, Mr Pearson’s place of work is attached by a tunnel full of shops to the BNZ headquarters in downtown Wellington.

The CML and BNZ buildings are on opposite sides of the same street. Mr Pearson is continuing in his job at CML, but is expected to devote much of his time to the BNZ in the next few months. The Minister of Finance, Mr Caygill, has said he is looking for a more involved chairman than the previous chairman, Sir Ron Brierley, who resigned last week.

Observers yesterday saw Mr Pearson’s appointment as being in line with Mr Caygill’s apparent desire to sell the BNZ this year.

Mr Pearson is understood to have shown early concern over the bank’s

bad debt position, placing him closer to Mr Caygill’s view of the bank than Sir Ron or the former deputy chairman, Mr Rob Campbell, who left that post yesterday.

Both Sir Ron and Mr Campbell have been angered by what they see as the creation of an “artificial climate of crisis.” Mr Pearson was seen as a favoured choice also because he is Wellingtonbased, and able to be more closely involved in the day-to-day affairs of the bank.

Mr Pearson, aged 44, is well known to sharemarket investors and economists as a commentator. He is a confident television performer, likely to provide a strong public profile for the bank during the process of patching up its reputation and shaking up the BNZ’s management.

Mr Pearson’s involve-

ment in the financial sector began in 1977 with the the Prudential Assurance Company, Ltd, followed by a stint between 1980 and 1987 as assistant general manager (investments) for the Government Life Insurance Corporation. In 1987, he worked for the merchant bankers Fay, Richwhite and Company, and joined CML at the end of that year. Dr Susan Lojkine, aged 46, the new deputy chairman of BNZ, is an Auck-land-based accountant from McLeod Lojkine Associates. She is a member of the Commerce Commission, and has served on several of the Government’s tax consultative committees. She is a member of the Landcorp board and is highly regarded in business circles for her analytical approach to commercial law and tax issues.