Former senior ANZ executive Fred Ohlsson is the new Chief Executive of fast growing finance company Avanti Finance.
Ohlsson succeeds the retiring Mark Mountcastle at Avanti, whose biggest shareholder and founder Glenn Hawkins is Executive Chairman.
Launched in 1989, Avanti offers home loans, car loans, personal loans, business loans, debt consolidation and insurance. It's New Zealand's second biggest non-bank financial institution after UDC Finance with total assets of more than $2.2 billion and 11.15% market share, according to KPMG.
Between 2010 and 2016 Ohlsson was at ANZ NZ, where he served as Managing Director of both the bank's retail and business banking operations. From 2016 to 2019 he was an ANZ group executive, leading ANZ's retail and commercial banking businesses in Australia.
Moat recently Managing Director of investment and wealth management firm Amplifi Group in Auckland, Ohlsson starts at Avanti in February. He's also an Independent Member of Fonterra's Milk Price Panel.
"We were looking for someone who could bring our growth strategy to life and help us increase our market share on both sides of the Tasman. Fred is the person to do that. He's held senior positions covering a broad range of functions at ANZ, including product, marketing, strategy and retail and business banking," Hawkins says.
Avanti's funding sources include loan securitisation both through residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS) and auto loan asset-backed securities (ABS). It did a $250 million ABS issue in Australia last year where Avanti's subsidiary Branded Financial Services operates.
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