Ballantyne announces her future plans
Partners Life founder and managing director Naomi Ballantyne is to retire after the end of March 2024.
Dai-ichi bought Partners Group Holdings for $1 billion in August 2022.
In a video sent to Partners' insurance advisers, Ballantyne assured them she hadn't been pushed by Dai-ichi.
“Before anyone speculates that my departure has been encouraged in some by by Dai-ichi Life,” she said she expects to undertake some consulting work for the global Dai-ichi Life business after she steps down.
The Japan-based company has been “incredible accommodating and supportive of my decision … I could not be more impressed with them as an owner,” she said.
The sale had securred Partners Life “as a forever company” and she is confident she is leaving the company “in the safest of hands,” Ballantyne said.
She has spent 41 years in New Zealand's life insurance industry, 35 of them spent starting and building three of the country's largest life insurance companies including 12 years at Partners Life.
The other two companies are Sovereign and Club Life, now called OnePath Life.
“I have loved every minute of my career in an industry that does great things for New Zealanders without any fanfare and I am so proud of the positive changes to the industry that have arisen because of the competition I have brought to the table,” Ballantyne said.