Building society boss set to retire

The man who has been at the helm of Wairarapa Building Society (WBS) for the past 20 years has signalled he will retire next April.

Alex Tulloch said his decision followed a strong set of financial results for the year to March 31 and was "part of orderly succession planning for WBS at managerial level".

His likely successor has not been named, with WBS chairman Don Dobson saying the board would "work over the next few months to identify, and appoint, a suitable replacement".

Mr Tulloch is a former Wellington investment banker who came to Wairarapa in 1992 to become WBS general manager.

In his time with WBS, he has overseen steady growth in investments and loans while retaining the society's independence and fully-local status.

Mr Dobson said the retiring general manager's tenure had coincided with the role WBS played with the "reinvigoration" of the Wairarapa economy after the 1987 financial crash and, more recently, the global financial crisis.

He said the 2011/12 yearly results had shown a five-fold increase in operating profit over the last year.

WBS is Wairarapa's only locally-owned and operated financial services organisation and one in four Wairarapa residents are customers. Mr Dobson said investors outnumber borrowers nine-to-one with more than 90 per cent of term investments reinvested.