NEW Zealand-based Avanti Finance has appointed experienced finance executive Andrew Brough as head of auto following 25 years in banking and finance, 16 of them with ANZ and UDC Finance.

Avanti is the owner of retail and floorplan finance specialist Branded Financial Services (BFS) which is expanding its footprint in Australia. BFS offers Australian dealers non-captive, non-bank retail and floorplan funding.

Mr Brough joined ANZ as team leader, collections in 1994 and then became quality assurance manager before moving to UDC Finance as head of operations in 2004.

In 2010 he became head of operations at the Heartland Bank and four years later moved to Finance Now, a subsidiary of SBS Bank, as general manager and then chief risk officer.

Mr Brough said that he was attracted to Avanti by its move into the Australian market.

“I was attracted by the trans-Tasman proposition. Australia for us is a massive opportunity.”

“Avanti is a $1.3 billion company and would have to be in the top two or three finance companies by size in New Zealand,” he said.

By John Mellor