Co-op Money NZ Appoints Independent Director as Chair

AUCKLAND, 23 NOVEMBER 2018: Co-op Money NZ is pleased to announce the appointment of Richard Westlake as the new Chair of Co-op Money NZ. Mr Westlake has been working with the Co-op Money NZ Board as an adviser since July 2017, and on 31 July this year formally joined the Board as its Independent director. Dr. Matthews is standing down from her role as Chair due to work commitments but will continue on as a director until her scheduled retirement in September 2019.

In commenting on her decision, Dr. Matthews says “my intention to retire at the end of my director rotation next September has been well signalled. However, with the appointment of Richard to the Board and my heavy work commitments, this provided a good opportunity to me to pass over the Chair role early. We have a number of significant Member projects and exciting initiatives underway and it makes sense for the Chair role to be filled by someone who can see these all through to completion. The Board and Members have also always had a preference for the Chair to be independent and I am pleased we have been able to do this now. I look forward to working with Richard and the Board until my retirement next year.

“Co-op Money NZ and its Members are going through a challenging period right now but we also have a truly exciting future ahead of us with new enabling legislation recently enacted and a modern Oracle core banking system rolled out to the majority of Members with the remainder to be soon migrated. Our larger Members have already begun work on the next stages to leverage this investment for their digital strategies and in the context of an open banking environment.”

Mr Westlake in turn thanked Dr. Matthews for her contribution as Chair of Co-op Money NZ and says “I’m delighted to be appointed to the role of Chair of this organisation and to tackling the challenges and many opportunities this business faces.”

Mr Westlake has 25 years of corporate governance experience including being appointed by the World Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), onto the Board of RCBC Bank, one of the largest banks in the Philippines. He is also the founder and Managing Director of Westlake Governance Limited, a Wellington based, globally focused business, and one of New Zealand’s leading corporate governance firms. Previous banking roles include being a founding independent director of Kiwibank for ten years and South Island Chief Executive for Trust Bank Canterbury, and then WestpacTrust, in the late 1990s. Mr Westlake gained his Master of Arts at Oxford University. He is married and lives in Wellington.

ENDS

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