Sarah Vrede (pictured above), director of capital markets at the Financial Markets Authority (FMA), has resigned from her post.

The regulator said that Vrede has accepted the role of chief executive of the New Zealand Financial Markets Association, the professional body for the institutional banking industry. She will take on her new role in early 2022.

Paul Gregory, FMA director of investment management, will assume Vrede’s responsibilities as acting director of capital markets.

“I’d like to thank Sarah for the strong leadership she has shown to our capital markets function over the past two years, as we have readied ourselves to take on significant new functions such as regulation of climate-related disclosures and financial markets infrastructure,” said Liam Mason, acting chief executive, FMA. “Sarah has been a wonderful colleague to work with and we and the board of the FMA wish her all the best in her new role.”

Vrede has more than 20 years’ public and private-sector experience in financial and capital markets. Prior to joining the FMA, she was head of the New Zealand Debt Management Office within the Treasury, where she was in charge of managing the government’s largest financial portfolio and other government funding functions. She also spent 12 years at Bank of New Zealand, holding various roles in financial markets, technology and derivatives trading.