Nikko boss to return to the UK

Carter's departure sees a shake up in the team at Nikko with Stuart Williams stepping ups to become managing director and country head.

As a result of this move Michael Sherrock becomes the co-head of New Zealand equities, initially alongside Williams, and Sam Bryden becomes head of distribution – a position vacated by James Wesley, who is relocating to New York where he has been asked to take up the newly created role of deputy chief executive of Nikko AM Americas.

Carter and Wesley will stay in their roles until the end of March.

Carter has decided to return to the UK to pursue a range of business and social interests. Since joining in 2015 Nikko has grown its number of staff by 50%, and its asset under management by nearly 70%. Also the company launched its KiwiSaver offering.

Over the past few months Carter has worked closely with the senior leadership team to develop a seamless transition plan that preserves the team’s growth momentum. 

Williams has headed up the Nikko AM NZ Equities team since 2014 and has 27 years’ experience across all aspects of the asset management industry. He says the management moves reflect not only the expertise within the local business, but the implementation of an established succession plan.

“George has provided outstanding leadership to the New Zealand business for the last eight years, during which time we’ve evolved to support retail as well as institutional investor clients with a wide range of funds, services and KiwiSaver products.