Sam Knowles quits as head of Kiwibank
Kiwbank chief executive Sam Knowles has announced he will be resigning after 10 years involvement in setting up and then leading the company.
Wednesday, May 26th 2010, 9:38AM 
11 Comments
Kiwibank chief executive Sam Knowles has announced he will be resigning after 10 years involvement in setting up and then leading the company. No date has been set for his departure, but Mr Knowles has said he is prepared to stay until a replacement has been found.
Kiwibank Chairman Jim Bolger said Mr Knowles had literally changed the face of the New Zealand banking industry for ever.
"Sam's resignation is a huge loss for Kiwibank, but he has set up a strong, robust company that will continue to go from strength to strength. Sam's impact on the New Zealand banking industry has been immense.
"Sam worked through the proposal to establish a New Zealand-owned bank and then took up the position of chief executive and successfully launched Kiwibank in 2002. Since then the bank has become a major banking competitor attracting 700,000 customers and winning numerous awards for value, innovation and brand values."
Mr Knowles said he has had a memorable tenure as chief executive, but he would now like to take a break and consider what the future holds. Mr Knowles is director or trustee of a number of organisations including Trust Power, Te Omanga Hospice and the St James Theatre Trust.
He thanked the board and staff for their support over the years.
"The outstanding success of Kiwibank is a tribute to a huge number of people. A small dedicated team created the original business case for the bank to operate through the New Zealand Post network and the plans snowballed to what we have today - a very successful bank that is a credit to all involved."
"I have been inspired over the years by the passion, commitment and enthusiasm of the staff of the bank. And of course there has been fierce loyalty by our customers who have clearly shared the dream of a New Zealand-owned bank for New Zealanders."
Mr Knowles said he had received strong support from the Kiwibank board and New Zealand Post and a tremendously loyal management team and staff.
"I'm sad to leave, but excited about my own personal future and of course for the future of Kiwibank. I've been involved in the Kiwibank project for 10 years and believe that now is the right time to look for new challenges."
Chief Executive of New Zealand Post (the owner of Kiwibank), Brian Roche, said a search both internally and externally will begin immediately for a replacement for Mr Knowles.
| « Budget adds to June 10 OCR hike expectation | Banks likely to keep pushing floating rates » |
Special Offers
Comments from our readers
On 26 May 2010 at 10:32 am Pete said:
Obviously not the guy to prepare KB for privatisation so Key shot him.
I've been preparing to move all our banking to KB from my current Aussie bank but there's no point now; I may as well save myself the cost of change & stay where I am.
On 26 May 2010 at 10:46 am David said:
I guess the challenge has gone and just steering KB is boring. Good luck to him. SBS bank is better as it is member owned! On 26 May 2010 at 12:50 pm Raiwir Hone Martin said:
On 26 May 2010 at 10:32 am Pete said:
".....I've been preparing to move all our banking to KB from my current Aussie bank ....."
KB has been around for 8 years and "How long have you been thinking about it?" Best you get of your arse and make an informed decision before you rust in place!
Arohanui
On 26 May 2010 at 4:36 pm Michael said:
Hey what is the real difference between any trading bank.
They all get their BIG money from overseas for 2% and lend it to us at 7%, so who cares if they are Australian-owned?
AND we all know about the fractional reserve (FR)which allows them to be the biggest "ponzi" of them all!
The FR allows banks to lend out 9 times more money than they have in their asset "tin."
KB is just another bank, and the good old days where you had a person as a personal banker....have gone...from ALL banks..!
On 27 May 2010 at 8:55 am Craig said:
Kiwibank charges fees like any other banks, their rates are nothing special. Some KB fees are just better hidden like mortgage break costs. Lets not forget its tax payers propping KB up via NZ Post and have done since inception. I for one dont want to queue up with the people buying their stamps to discuss my personal banking affairs. Sell it off and let the commerce commission ensure people dont pay too much for their banking. On 27 May 2010 at 9:17 am Bushy said:
Kiwibank still has 100% support from me. As for queues, Internet banking is where it's at, and Kiwibank's website is second to none.
Personally I doubt whether NZ Post will support the (partial) sale of Kiwibank given it's actually Kiwibank that's been propping up NZ Post by all accounts - not the other way around! Kiwibank is probably the most profitable company in the NZ Post group, but for some reason NZers don't support the notion of a state owned entity being profitable (weird).
On 28 May 2010 at 9:27 am Craig said:
I think your dreaming Bushy! Agree competition is good, but Kiwibank is in no way holding up NZ Post, where would Kiwibank be without Postshop branches!? Why do you think Kiwibank needs so much capital moving forward? NZ Post's balance sheet will be far stronger than Kiwibank. I do think a share float to kiwi investors is a good idea. On 28 May 2010 at 9:31 am david said:
"Kiwibank that's been propping up NZ Post by all accounts - not the other way around! Kiwibank is probably the most profitable company in the NZ Post group"
I loved to know where you got this information from, with all the costs of setting up the bank and their systems, they may only just staring to break even... But i guess we will never know as NZ Post doesn't seperate the entities in the reporting.
On 28 May 2010 at 12:53 pm David said:
On 26 May 2010 at 4:36 pm Michael said:
..AND we all know about the fractional reserve (FR)which allows them to be the biggest "ponzi" of them all!
The FR allows banks to lend out 9 times more money than they have in their asset "tin."
KB is just another bank, and the good old days where you had a person as a personal banker....have gone...from ALL banks..!
Michael should get better informed, banks have cheque books just like us and they can no more write out cheques 9 times the balance than we can. I have never heared of FR, but have run a bank in a small country and we had to keep an eye on our cheque account every day! Check out "Core Funding Ratio" on the RBNZ site.
On 28 May 2010 at 6:10 pm Tony said:
Lest we forget/Just 2 weeks ago KiwiBank got their knuckles rapped for gouging break fees from mortgage holders,"The peoples bank" Yeah Right! Commenting is closed
|
|
Printable version |
|
Email to a friend |
Anyway, my thanks goes to Jim Anderton for setting up this fine Kiwibank, at least I've had 10 good years.