Capital Markets report: Auckland's NZX home gets bigger and better

New Zealand Capital Markets Centre on lower Queens Street, Auckland, operated by the NZX, design for a new interior to be opened later in 2021. Picture / Supplied

The company at the heart of capital markets in New Zealand is relocating its Tāmaki Makaurau office from 21 Queen St to the brand-new New Zealand Capital Markets Centre further down the road at 45 Queen St.

The 85-strong team hopes to relocate in August 2021 and plans a major opening to welcome external stakeholders.

A large NZX LED ticker will take pride of place across the exterior of the building beaming onto the corner of Queen and Customs St.

The idea is to revamp the working environment to complement the new working paradigm wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic while also showcasing the national stock exchanges' history.

NZX Chair James Miller told the ASM: "The New Zealand Capital Markets Centre will modernise and reorientate our work environment for the new normal, but also give us the opportunity to showcase what NZX does — and our heritage over the past 150 years".

The first local New Zealand stock exchange was established in Dunedin in 1866 with initial shares trading in the gold mines during the gold rush in the 1870s. Auckland followed next with an exchange being established in the city in the early 1870s.

NZX says the 946sq m space is designed as a place not just for staff to work from, but with myriad uses in mind: hosting listing events, hybrid annual meetings for issuers, investor presentations, enabling media and digital broadcasts, and it will also have the potential to showcase the business to community groups and schools.

The reception area will feature a dynamic screen/digital display that will project promotional, educational and celebratory material and be visible to employees and visitors.

The NZX told the Herald: "The design is made to make visitors and employees feel like they are in the epicentre of the capital markets — creating an energised and enabling feeling through an immersive experience."

The company says "one of our biggest aspirations is to be relevant and connected to Kiwis.

"Our vision is 'Helping build New Zealand's tomorrow'," and they say the Māori translation of the name 'Te Paehoko o Aotearoa' — 'The exchange-place of New Zealand' encapsulates this.

"In our name, we have purposefully created a sense of ownership 'by and of New Zealand' because that's important to us… and we need a home for NZX in Auckland that is not only highly functional and tailored for our people to work productively, but also to host and celebrate who we are with our customers and our wider New Zealand constituency."

The Auckland office is one of four across Aotearoa New Zealand with headquarters in Wellington, but they say that want a "space we can truly be proud of in the heart of New Zealand's biggest city and economic nerve centre".