Tim has almost 20 years' financial services consulting experience, the majority of which has been in Asia where his most recent role has been as a Partner in Oliver Wyman's Retail and Business Banking practice. He has advised a broad range of financial institutions on topics from strategy and organisational transformation through mergers and acquisitions. A particular area of focus has been financial markets, where Tim has worked with a number of different exchanges, governments and private companies in expanding domestic capital markets and developing new asset classes.

Tim will bring to the CEO role a continued focus on strengthening NZX's domestic markets, while building its strategic options, particularly via the company's integrated information, markets and infrastructure offerings. This dual strategy, which combines development of New Zealand's equities markets alongside complementary diversification into other domestic and offshore markets, has seen NZX's performance outstrip global peers in recent years.

Tim maintains a high degree of connectivity to Asian and other exchange operators, and is very familiar with Fonterra's GDT offering, thereby bringing a strong international and domestic focus, particularly with regard to New Zealand's leadership in agricultural markets.
NZX chairman Andrew Harmos said, "The board has undertaken a thorough, global search and selection process and is very pleased with the number and calibre of candidates attracted to the CEO role. It is a credit to departing CEO Mark Weldon, and to NZX's management team, that both the company and the role are seen as providing highly desirable opportunities to local and international candidates.

"It is particularly pleasing to attract a top expat Kiwi home to invest his considerable skills and experience, gained offshore, back in New Zealand," said Harmos.

Tim Bennett said, "The next few years provide a once in a lifetime opportunity to accelerate the development of NZX's markets and I'm excited to be able to contribute to this development not only for the benefit of NZX's shareholders, but for the country as a whole. New Zealand plays a key role in agricultural commodities globally and I'm looking to combining my experience with the foundation NZX has established in dairy futures to grow this area of the business.

Over the course of his career, Tim has led a number of different areas of the business at both Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Oliver Wyman. He led BCG's Malaysian business post the Asian financial crisis as well as BCG's strategy practice in Asia Pacific, and was hired by Oliver Wyman to build its Retail and Business banking practice across Asia.

One of Tim's most notable achievements has been supporting the development of the iron ore derivatives market. This entailed working with key sector stakeholders, including the physical traders, investment banks and potential participants on a market that reached $10 billion a year in cleared contracts three years after launch. The iron ore derivatives market has been credited with a fundamental shift in the way price risk is managed within the global iron industry.