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Credit to him: Umberto Benucci has worked alongside former Branded Financial Services CEO Roger Zagorski for the past four years and is now in the top job with Mr Zagorski’s promotion as Ateco Group managing director.

Credit to him: Umberto Benucci has worked alongside former Branded Financial Services CEO Roger Zagorski for the past four years and is now in the top job with Mr Zagorski’s promotion as Ateco Group managing director.

ATECO has appointed Umberto Benucci as chief executive of its retail and dealer financial services arm, Branded Financial Services, in both Australia and New Zealand, replacing Roger Zagorski who earlier this month stepped up as the new managing director of the group.

Remaining at his home base in Auckland, Mr Benucci has more than two decades’ experience in corporate lending, retail credit, banking and captive financing, serving as general manager for Branded Financial Services’ New Zealand operations and manager of credit risk on both sides of the Tasman since 2012.

He previously worked for Mercedes-Benz Financial Services in New Zealand as general credit manager and, beyond the Antipodes, held senior credit risk management positions with Daimler Chrysler Financial Services in Germany and South Africa.

The Zimbabwean-born executive started his career in the South African banking sector before joining the automotive industry in 2000.

In announcing the appointment, Mr Zagorski said: “Umberto has been with Branded Financial Services from our early days and has played a central role in the success of the company.

“As manager of credit risk and head of New Zealand operations, he has both run a key component of the whole company and run the whole business in one of our two markets, providing him with a unique and complete competency in the business as a whole.

“I have no doubt that he will grow and develop Branded Financial and that this will also assist the growth of the Ateco group of companies.”

Branded Financial Services deals with brands handled by Ateco in Australia and New Zealand, such as Maserati, Ram, Foton, LDV, Chery and SsangYong.

The company says its portfolio is valued in excess of $150 million and has more than 5000 customers across the two countries.

Mr Benucci described his role in helping grow Branded Financial Services with Mr Zagorski – who was also a key figure in developing Mercedes-Benz’s finance operations in Australia and New Zealand – as the highlight of his career.

He said Ateco Group executive chairman Neville Crichton had provided both he and Mr Zagorski “freedom … to develop a new type of company best suited to meeting the changing needs of dealers”.

“To now be given the role of taking this success to the next level in its development is a fresh challenge that I look forward to meeting,” he said.

By Terry Martin

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