Mike Pero and Liberty get a new boss

Non-bank lender Liberty, which owns Mike Pero Mortgages, has appointed a new chief executive in New Zealand.

Monday, February 1st 2016, 1:45PM

The former head of NZ Home Loans, Mark Collins, has been appointed chief executive at Liberty in New Zealand. The former manager, Simon Frost, has returned to Australia.

Also Liberty has appointed Gareth Clague as its chief financial officer.

Liberty started lending activities in New Zealand in 2001, but has had a very low profile in the market since the Global Financial Crisis. It also runs a deposit business, and fully owns Mike Pero Mortgages.

Liberty managing director Sherman Ma, said the two appointments mark a new phase in the development and expansion of the Liberty and Mike Pero businesses.

“The strength of the New Zealand economy continues to create demand for the innovative financial products and services.

“We are focused on supporting our business partners with a leading service, while growing the Mike Pero franchise network which, through its experienced advisers, brings much needed choice to consumers across the country.

Collins has considerable experience in the lending sector and with distribution after heading up Kiwibank-owned NZ Home Loans, and having senior roles with Sovereign's lending business.

Ma says appointing two experienced executives "will benefit the broader industry and our customers through brokers and a highly engaged franchise network.”

Clague was most recently a specialist with the BNZ and formerly with New Zealand Development Trust. With two decades’ capital markets experience in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, he is an expert in consumer, commercial finance, funding and insurance.

Collins says Liberty will "deliver what business partners and consumers are looking for and expect, which is fair, fast and fuss-free financial solutions and personal service."

“As a point of difference of our nearly 20 years of experience enables us to offer specialty finance options, in addition to mainstream products. This means we are able to offer consumers more choice and options, along with market-leading service,” Collins said.

Tags: Liberty Mike Pero