New chief at Pero

Sandra Pigram, who took over from Jeff Staniland at the beginning of this year has returned to her native Australia unexpectedly for family reasons. She has been replaced by former Geneva Finance chief executive Shaun Riley.

Riley said that his move to the Pero mortgage broking group was not connected with events at Geneva. As chief executive he had been responsible for managing the company through a very difficult situation. He had been attracted to the challenge presented by the Pero post.

"This is an iconic brand in New Zealand."

Riley said that his first priority would be to consolidate the work done by Pigram and to allow franchisees time to become familiar with the changes.

Pigram moved to Mike Pero Mortgages after losing her senior management post at the Christchurch-based lender Propertyfinance Group when it collapsed at the end of last year. She intends to continue working in the mortgage industry in Australia.