Heartland Group Holdings says its Chief Financial Officer Andrew Dixson will succeed Jeff Greenslade as Chief Executive Officer on October 1, and won't be replaced as CFO. Deputy Group CEO Chris Flood's role is also being disestablished with Flood to leave Heartland on October 31.
Greenslade, CEO since Heartland's 2011 formation, announced plans to depart at the end of 2024 back in April. However, Heartland now says Greenslade will retire from his role and all Heartland directorships on September 30.
Heartland says Dixson has been with Heartland since 2010, and has "been involved in all key parts of Heartland’s evolution."
"The Board is confident in Andrew’s ability to lead Heartland in the next stage of its journey. This next stage will be focused on capital allocation and an improved return on equity, of which Andrew has proven his leadership in shaping Heartland’s funding strategy in both countries, and through his involvement in complex structured finance transactions and a number of successful material capital raises," Heartland Chairman Greg Tomlinson says.
"Andrew’s focus as CEO will be on group strategy, investor relations, corporate finance, capital allocation, and strategic and risk management oversight of each bank."
Tomlinson says the group CFO role won't be replaced, but "strong leadership across the group" includes Heartland Bank CEO Leanne Lazarus in New Zealand, and Heartland Bank Australia CEO Michelle Winzer.
Not replacing Dixson as CFO "reflects a significant evolution of Heartland’s role as the parent company of two banks," says Tomlinson.
This also means the Deputy Group CEO role has been disestablished with the long serving Flood finishing on October 31.
"On behalf of the Board, I would like to express our sincere thanks to Chris for his service to Heartland and acknowledge the value he has created for our shareholders. We wish him all the best in his next endeavours," says Tomlinson.
In its recent annual financial results Heartland missed its June-year earnings guidance and declined to provide any for the June 2025 year. This came after what Greenslade described as a late loan provisioning increase of $10.1 million primarily in its asset finance, motor finance and rural lending portfolios.
Last week the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) filed criminal proceedings against a junior Heartland Bank employee for alleged insider trading in 2020 and 2021 relating to the buying and selling of shares in Heartland Group Holdings. The accused is no longer with Heartland and it has cooperated with the FMA's investigation.
At the time of writing Heartland shares are down 23% over the past 12 months.
Greenslade has been CEO since Heartland's 2011 formation. It was created through the merger of Marac Finance where Greenslade was CEO, CBS Canterbury and the Southern Cross Building Society in January 2011. It gained banking registration from the Reserve Bank in December 2012. Heartland targets niche markets such as reverse mortgages, vehicle lending and livestock finance where bigger banks are not aggressively competing. Heartland restructured in 2018 meaning Heartland Bank is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Heartland Group Holdings. Earlier this year it completed the acquisition of Australia's Challenger Bank.
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