[GRTV] Former NZ Funds Management chief executive Richard James

So my next guest is Richard James. Richard has been the chief executive of NZ Funds Management for the past ten years, but has decided to step down. Welcome Richard, thanks for coming along. Tell me, ten years, why have you decided to step down from the role?

Well I've actually been with NZ Funds for 25 years, and I've spent the last nine years, 2009 I took over and obviously it was an interesting time to take over a business like ours at that point in time. We've really gone through a process of repurposing the business, reorienting the business, and building it out in a different direction. And I felt that the time was ... And I think we've achieved a lot over that period of time, and I felt that the time was right, with the company's moving into a new phase, I thought the time was right for the introduction of new talent. And now's as good a time as any for that.

So ten years ago we're at the height of the GFC, what was the business like then?

Well NZ Funds grew up as an investment management business, and obviously our business was built around developing investment management products and services for financial advisors. When I took over it would be fair to say that some of the decisions we'd made in the preceding decade hadn't worked out as we would have like or our clients would have liked, so we were faced with the need to really look hard at why that was and what we were gonna do going forward.