Wendy Aldred KC was appointed to do an independent review of Stobo following allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a former FMA staffer, public comments he had made, as well as concerns around an overseas trip.
Aldred recommended Stobo's resignation following her review. She said there was no evidence of an inappropriate relationship between Stobo and a former staff member.
However, the review found Stobo's public comments in various media articles, including on The Platform, did not meet the standards of political neutrality expected of the Chair of an independent Crown entity and financial markets regulator.
Commerce Minister Cameron Brewer said in a statement he had accepted Stobo’s offer to resign. The current acting Chair is Steven Bardy.
The report included an allegation of an inappropriate relationship between Stobo and former adviser Kyla Bottriell, with whom he attended a programme of events in Estonia in July 2025.
The review found the relationship was not inappropriate.
Bottriell says, in a statement issued through a public relations firm, that she had "an entirely professional relationship with Mr Stobo."
"That finding matters because false and damaging rumours about me were allowed to circulate within the FMA and to media, causing me both personal and professional harm."
She says the KC's report "corrects the public record, but it does not repair the harm, or answer wider questions about how a conduct regulator allowed misinformation to escalate causing lasting damage to my reputation."
"I have raised legitimate concerns through proper channels about the FMA's internal culture, rumour-spreading, lack of accountability and leaking of internal matters. Those concerns predate this investigation and remain unaddressed.
"The FMA holds market participants to standards of fairness, transparency and good conduct. It should apply the same standards internally."
The review also addressed Stobo's role as an independent director of The Independent Mortgage Company (Indi), a fintech startup competing with the large trading banks.
Allegations were raised, including from one large bank, that there was a conflict of interest between Stobo's role as FMA Chairman and being an Indi director.
After concerns were raised in August 2024, Stobo agreed to resign from Indi in September 2025 but delayed that resignation until December 2025.
"Mr Stobo acted reasonably in disclosing his interest in Indi and later in agreeing to resign, but he should not have delayed for as long as he did," Aldred said in her review.
The review also addressed a trip to Estonia with Botterill, which included meetings with the Estonian financial markets regulator, and some financial services businesses.
Aldred said there were short-comings in Stobo's communications with the FMA about this part of his trip.
FMA Board member Chris Swasbrook had expressed concern over the Estonia trip, saying that when the board became aware of this, “eyebrows were raised” and “what Craig failed to do is fully inform people of what he was doing and who would be travelling with him”.
The review did not find that Stobo's several applications for travel expenses, which would have seen him combine personal travel with FMA-funded travel, were inappropriate.
“In short, he made the applications as required and, to the extent that they were declined by the Audit and Risk Committee Chair, he accepted those decisions. The process operated as per FMA policy.”
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