NZX’s MacKenzie off to the Cullen Fund in September

NZX’s MacKenzie off to the Cullen Fund in September

By Paul McBeth

June 21 (BusinessDesk) – NZX Ltd.’s head of strategy, Fiona MacKenzie, will leave the stock exchange to lead the New Zealand Superannuation Fund’s investment team in September.

MacKenzie rapidly rose through the NZX ranks, replacing long-serving head of markets Geoff Brown in May last year, and was tapped in February for her current role. That was later expanded to include chief financial officer duties after Jason Bgoni left in March. She joined the stock exchange in May 2009 to head up the Auckland office and drive the bourse’s derivatives market.

“Part of her contribution – as a member of the wider management team – has been to ensure significant bench strength in the tradable products area, which now has its own momentum,” chief executive Mark Weldon said in a statement. “NZX looks forward to working with Fiona to establish a closer relationship between our two critical capital market institutions.”

MacKenzie led the bourse operator while Weldon took a leave of absence to help raise funds in the wake of the Feb. 22 earthquake in Christchurch.

She joins the so-called Cullen Fund, set up by former Finance Minister Michael Cullen to partially fund an ageing population, in September as it starts getting close to its target for a long-run average return.

Yesterday, the fund reported a 2.43% return above 90-day Treasury Bills since its inception in 2003, just shy of the 2.5% 20-year target. The fund has grown to $19.22 billion, at an absolute return after fees but pre-tax of 26.34% in the year today.

NZX shares fell 2.9% to $2.38 in trading yesterday.

(BusinessDesk)

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