Penny Dell, treasurer at New Zealand’s largest bank, ANZ, is the 2023 Young Executive of the Year in the Deloitte Top 200 awards.
She is the youngest and first woman to hold the role of treasurer, which involves the management of the funding, capital and liquidity of the bank’s $189 billion balance sheet.
It is a critical, strategic position for New Zealand’s largest bank.
The Deloitte Top 200 category judges noted Dell is performing at a high level within a very large organisation: “She holds a position of great responsibility within the ANZ organisation and is clearly recognised as a valuable asset.”
Judge Liam Dann, Herald Business editor-at-large, said one of the things the judges look for with regard to this award is the executive’s potential to rise to the top of a large company. Dann said Dell “stands out as the kind of person who has a well-rounded overview of strategy, culture and finance and the ability to reach those heights”.
Earlier in her career with the bank — which began in 2005 — Dell spent several years working as a market-facing trader. She enjoyed working in that vibrant, exciting environment. That experience helped her after moving to the treasury division: “When I was in markets, I was doing interest rates trading. There was still a lot of responsibility, but quite a differently angled lens on things.”
She says the experience working as a trader earlier in her career means that she has never had a problem with what could, for some, be daunting levels of responsibility. In trading, you are dealing with very big numbers, even at a young age.
Dann adds making it through such a blokey, male-dominated world is a sign that Dell is determined and tough, but also has the ability to assert herself where necessary. He says that experience also gave her a perspective on diversity within the bank.
Dell knew she wanted to go into banking while studying law. “I quickly realised I didn’t like the law so much. I like things that are a bit more fast-paced. That’s what resonated in terms of the markets trading role - it uses the economics and the maths in my educational background and was a more lively, faster-paced environment.”
Her work in the bank’s treasury has included a number of significant transactions. “The Reserve Bank of New Zealand implemented some new capital rules that the banks were required to meet. One of the pieces that we did was when we issued preference shares in 2022. That was the first time, and we have issued equity instruments directly out of ANZ New Zealand. Equity usually comes out at the group in Australia. We did that deal and got a great response from domestic investors.”
“We’ve also done some good offshore deals. In 2021, we issued what was, and still is, the largest US dollar transaction by any New Zealand bank. It was a single-tranche transaction of a billion dollars, and again, it got a resounding response from investors.”
Before becoming treasurer, she was the bank’s head of asset and liability management, where she was also responsible for liquidity and funding management.
This included the execution and hedging of ANZ NZ’s funding programmes.
The judges noted Dell showed clear evidence of the successful delivery of results. This includes playing a key role in influencing the final outcomes of the Reserve Bank’s capital review. “She successfully lobbied for specific clauses to allow some rules around the issuance of subordinated debt to remain outside local jurisdiction.”
They say Dell shows good character and a clear sense of vision for the industry. She was confident and articulate and demonstrated she is a strategic thinker with a deep awareness of technological trends - more than just finance-focused.
“At the same time, she is passionate about issues like inequality and the bank’s role in addressing it. She looks at diversity through the organisation, not just at the top tier.”
Dann says Dell is on a path which could take her all the way to the top; her career trajectory points towards her becoming a chief financial officer and potentially CEO of a major business.
Finalist: Mari Hunter
Co-operative Bank’s head of enterprise change Mari Hunter had only been in her role for six months at the time of judging.
Hunter worked in financial services as a student to finance her studies and it became her career in the UK, where she worked as a financial adviser.
She says: “I stumbled across New Zealand while travelling, but found Wellington felt like home”.
She put down roots and returned to behavioural psychology, working in HR, then moving into leadership roles and eventually joining the 350-strong Co-Operative Bank.
She says her career took off after working with three main role models who were all inspirational female leaders. “I’ve always been motivated and driven, then I had the opportunity to work under a leader who gave me my first big step up.”
At the Co-Operative Bank, Hunter built a cross-functional team to deliver regulatory change. The aim was to improve customer outcomes and improve the skills of people working for the bank. She established team capabilities to support the co-operative’s strategic priority initiatives.
Hunter says when the bank faced a major regulatory change, “it became an opportunity to take a wider look at the business’ operating model and how we supported our people and customers with the services we provide them”.
The change was challenging.
“We’re a small bank, and we’re customer-owned, a little different. And the things that drive our decision-making are not only about profit - they’re largely based on how we service customers. These big changes can become difficult for us to do with the timeframes and the scale and size of the resources that we have. It was a big piece of work for us. It was impacting pretty much every single employee that we had, over a short timeframe. I was fortunate enough to be given an opportunity to lead that piece of work.”
Hunter impressed the judges with her integrity and confidence. They said she has great leadership potential and excellent people skills: “Mari exhibited excellent self-awareness. She is clearly a strategic thinker with a strong awareness of industry trends.”
They judges said she has an excellent broad perspective on the important social and community roles banks must play.
Liam Dann says Hunter stood out because of her strong personality and views. “She has great potential, a lot of passion and a character that can’t be overlooked. It’s a smaller bank, but it was clear to all the judges that she is very good and highly regarded by her organisation. She could go on and do all sorts of things, but the bank wouldn’t want to lose her.”
Finalist: Carolyn Adams
As the general manager of subscriber revenue at NZME, Carolyn Adams played a key role as the media company successfully switched to a premium subscription business model. Today, she is responsible for the strategy and implementation of the company’s digital subscriptions roadmap.
Adams says: “We launched Herald Premium in 2019. Before then, I was responsible for print subscription revenue for all our newspapers. I came on the project and handled the strategy and marketing for Herald Premium.”
Her job evolved from there, and she became GM a little over two years ago. Herald Premium has continued to grow, with digital subscriptions now overtaking print subscriptions. In the past 18 months she has expanded the digital subscription offerings and added responsibility for subscriber sales and marketing for BusinessDesk after NZME acquired the business. She also added subscriptions for Viva Premium and the New Zealand Listener.
This is a critical role for NZME, which is pushing hard to move to a digital subscription model. Adams says her time in charge of print subscriptions meant she knew the strategy was going to work. “We’ve had people paying for newspaper content for a long time. This was moving into New Zealand people paying in a way they weren’t used to. We knew some people were so engaged with our content that they would be willing to pay.
“The job was first about finding them, and secondly about getting current print subscribers to access digital content.”
The performance of Adams’ department exceeded the company’s expectations at launch and led to the extensions of Viva Premium, the acquisition of BusinessDesk — which gives NZME a product for corporate customers — and its partnership with the Listener.
The award judges said Adams “is articulate and passionate about the industry and the challenges and opportunities it faces”.
“She has a good understanding of the strategic path ahead for NZME and has clearly done a good job of communicating that vision to her team”.
The Young Executive of the Year award is sponsored by the University of Auckland.
Reserve Bank says leaving banks to their own devices hasn't worked.