Grosvenor management reshuffle

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Grosvenor Financial Services chief executive Allan Yeo surprised advisers last week at their end of year conference dinner when he said he would be taking his hands away from the day-to-day New Zealand business to focus on the company's strategic outlook.

Thursday, November 12th 2009, 7:22AM

by Paul McBeth

Yeo reiterated his commitment to Grosvenor, saying he is "still the largest shareholder," but the demands of the company, which had grown considerably over the past decade, required him to take a wider view of the business and he said he had taken his hands off the day-to-day operations for about two years.

"Part of building something and watching it grow, is knowing when it's time to the child go," Yeo told Good Returns. "There's a fantastic team of people throughout the entire organisation, and we do need to develop a broad base of leaders."

David Beattie and Allan Wilson have been running the ship in New Zealand, with Beattie concentrating on customer relationships and Wilson looking after the operational side of the business.

One of the company's big strengths is its retention of staff and senior management, many of whom have been with Grosvenor for the better part of 10 years, and this leaves Yeo with "comfortable and confident" with how it is running.

He was encouraged by the company's success through this period, with Grosvenor positioning itself as a strong partner for advisers.

"The strength of the organisation is our relationship with advisers - in insurance we haven't been caught up in the commission war," he said. "People who want to be independent are finding us more attractive as someone to work with and we've had more advisers join in the last 12 to 18 months - there's huge potential to come."

Paul is a staff writer for Good Returns based in Wellington.

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