Sir Bruce Robertson to chair Financial Advisers Disciplinary Committee

Sir Bruce Robertson has been appointed chairman of the Financial Advisers Disciplinary Committee.

“I'm pleased to be able to appoint someone as capable and experienced as Sir Bruce to lead this committee,” Commerce Minister Simon Power said.

Sir Bruce has been a member of the committee since its establishment last year, serving as acting chair since the resignation of David Mayhew in February.

The committee conducts disciplinary proceedings arising out of complaints regarding authorised financial advisers referred to it by the Financial Markets Authority.

Mr Power also announced the appointment of David Macdonald and Geoff Clews as members of the committee.

“Both men have backgrounds in arbitration and disciplinary proceedings, and will bring a high level of ethics and professionalism to the committee”.

Sir Bruce was a permanent judge on the Court of Appeal until last year, and was appointed a High Court Judge in 1987. He has been President of the Court of Appeal in Vanuatu since 1986.

Mr Clews is a Barrister Sole in specialist tax and trust practice. Prior to that he worked for Russell McVeagh McKenzie Bartleet & Co as both a specialist tax partner and consultant. Throughout his legal career he has consulted in the fields of equity, trusts and superannuation schemes, as well as providing advice on employee equity participation and obligations of investment professionals.

Mr Macdonald has a background in accounting, spending 24 years as a partner at Deloitte where he performed auditing and corporate finance work in the financial services and insurance industries. From 1995 to 2002 he served as Auditor-General. He is a member of the New Zealand Institute of Accountant’s Disciplinary Tribunal.

The Financial Advisers Disciplinary Committee was established under section 103 of the Financial Advisers Act 2008. The committee has 4-6 members, and must include at least one member who works or has worked in the financial adviser industry, at least one who is independent of the financial adviser industry, and at least one who is a lawyer with no less than seven years' legal experience.