Currently, the association is run by the chairman, currently Brian Berry, executive committee and only one full-time employee.
Salt, who will take up the position from mid-September, has a law degree and an MBA and worked 10 years with the British Bankers’ Association which represents more than 250 financial institutions in Britain. Her final position with the BBA was as director of its retail and consumer banking section.
Mortgage brokers originate about 60% of mortgages in Britain compared with an estimated between 25% and 30% in New Zealand.
Salt will also attend the NZMBA annual conference in early September and executive committee meetings before that.
Berry says her appointment is "a huge step forward" for the NZMBA, going a long way towards enhancing the industry’s professionalism.
It will also mean that future chairmen won’t carry the same workload as Berry has had to shoulder – he says he plans to step down at the conference, although he will still be offering himself to serve on the executive committee for at least another year.
"It will certainly change the chairman’s role and the role of the executive committee also. A lot of what the executive committee has had to do has been more day-to-day issues rather than strategic issues. In future it will be able to concentrate more on strategic issues," Berry says.
