New Zealand's Banking Ombudsman Liz Brown has announced her retirement and will be replaced by Deborah Battell on July 21. Brown has held the role since 1995. Battell is presently Director of Competition for the Commerce Commission, having previously worked as its Director of Fair Trading, the Office of the Banking Ombudsman said in a statement. She has also worked for KPMG as a strategic management consultant, in planning and development for Radio New Zealand and as a senior researcher at the former Broadcasting Corporation. "(Liz Brown) has been a dedicated and extremely professional leader of the Ombudsman team and has become recognised internationally as a leader in dispute resolution of banking issues," Chairman of the Ombudsman Scheme Ian Barker said. Over recent months, the office of the Banking Ombudsman has seen a huge surge in the amount of complaints and inquires, with January being a record month, Brown said. The majority of recent complaints are in regard to two funds frozen in 2008 by ING, but which were marketed by ANZ, and, more recently, complaints on the costs of mortgage break fees charged by banks.
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