Governance and Structure
Page updated 7 Oct 2009
The New Zealand Export Credit Office (NZECO) is New Zealand’s export credit agency and is designed to help promote export growth by expanding the provision of trade related insurance products to New Zealand exporters. The NZECO’s obligations to third parties are guaranteed by the New Zealand Government.
The NZECO is currently located within the Treasury. A letter of delegation from the Minister of Finance delegates the Secretary to the Treasury with the responsibility of operating the NZECO. The Secretary provides final approval of all export credit guarantees.
Visit the Treasury web site for accountability documents such as the Annual Report of the Treasury and the Statement of Intent of the Treasury.
Advisory Board
An Advisory Board supports the Secretary to the Treasury with advice on issues such as the operation and performance of the NZECO, the effectiveness of risk management strategies and auditing and reporting requirements. The Advisory Board is essentially responsible for the operation of the ECO.
The Advisory Board consists of three members:
Anthony Ractliffe
Anthony is the Chairman of the Export Credit Office Advisory Board. He is also Chairman of Grosvenor Financial Services Group Ltd as well as Grosvenor’s Australian listed associate company Tranzact Financial Services Ltd. Previously he was the CEO of National Mutual NZ (now AXA NZ) and in September 2003 completed his second term as a Director and later Deputy Chairman of ACC. He is also Chairman or a Director of a number of private companies.
Derek McCorkindale
Derek is a consultant with over 30 years experience in banking and finance. He is a former Director of Structured Finance for BNZ’s Corporate and Institutional Banking group and was a Credit Controller in the BNZ’s Risk Division for a number of years. He provides financial and risk advice to a number of NZ financial institutions.
John Pritchard
John has over forty years experience in the insurance industry. He is a former managing director of State Insurance, a former board member of the New Zealand Insurance Council and has held numerous other directorships. John was responsible for the Export Guarantee Office for 9 years, which was owned by State Insurance.
Export Credit Agent
The NZECO has appointed the Swedish export credit agency - Exportkreditnämnden - to assist with the NZECO’s operational tasks such as processing applications, portfolio management, collections and providing recommendations on risk management and pricing.
The use of an Agent enables the NZECO to immediately draw upon international best practice in the provision of export credit guarantees.