Kiwibank poaches senior staff from rivals

Kiwibank has poached two senior executives from rival banks. Photo / Paul Taylor

Kiwibank has raided its rival Australian-owned banks to poach two new senior executives.

Mike Hendriksen has joined the state-owned bank from today as chief legal officer. He was previously assistant general counsel and chief compliance officer at Westpac New Zealand.

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 Henriksen was a highly qualified barrister and solicitor.

"Mike will bring in-depth 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.

Jurkovich said Mike would be instrumental in helping Kiwibank consider its own changes – both in response to the changing expectations of its stakeholders, and for our 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.

Elliot Smith, Kiwibank's new chief strategy and innovation officer. Photo / Supplied

Smith was previously general manager of strategy and business transformation at the ASB.

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

"Both Elliot and Mike bring a wide range of skills and experience that make them ideal for Kiwibank's next phase of growth, which will see us have much bigger impact on the New Zealand banking markets."

Both men will be based in Kiwibank's Auckland office.

Mike Hendriksen has been appointed chief legal officer at Kiwibank. Photo / Supplied