In August, FMG will hold its 119th AGM. FMG’s Constitution and Member Director Election and Appointed Director Policy (the Policy) require that a third of all Member Directors retire by rotation at each year’s AGM.
This year Geoff Copstick and Debbie Hewitt are due to retire by rotation. Geoff will be seeking re-election. Debbie has opted not to stand for re-election. Consequently, there are two Director vacancies, with one being contested by a current Director. The Board sincerely thanks Debbie for her contribution to the Mutual.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the Financial Markets Authority recently published their joint Governance Thematic Review. A key finding is that Boards have an obligation to ensure they have the collective skills and experience to guide the organisation. This includes ‘undertaking a robust and ongoing suitability assessment of Directors’ and ‘a robust selection process’.
The Policy sets out the criteria for the evaluation of Member Director candidates, including current Directors. Consequently, the Board will continue with its current practice of providing guidance to Members as to which Member Candidates are ‘most suitable’ noting that the Board may opt not to do so or may identify more Member Candidates as being ‘most suitable’ than the number of vacancies.
The Board has not set any Specific Criteria per the Policy. Member nominations must be made in accordance with the procedure set out in the FMG Constitution and are subject to the process outlined in the Policy, which is available here or can be obtained by calling FMG’s General Counsel, Lisa Murray on 021 684 824 or emailing her at lisa.murray@fmg.co.nz. Nominations are open until 9 April 2024.
At the 2024 AGM, we will provide an update on how the Mutual is tracking. All Members are invited to attend and vote at the AGM on Friday, 23 August 2024. Members can attend either through a virtual platform or in person; with the AGM being held in the Wairarapa. Alternatively, Members can vote through the proxy form that will be sent with the Notice of Meeting which includes an online voting option.
