Riley wasn't answering his phones or returning calls yesterday and Mike Pero's 50% owner, the listed NZF Group, hasn't made any announcement.
If true, two of the oldest brands in the industry have just lost their chief executives. Mortgage Link chief executive Rod Templeton resigned at the end of March after eight years in the role and wasn't replaced, an obvious cost-cutting measure.
Riley took on the Mike Pero job in September 2008 after leaving the chief executive role at Geneva Finance.
If he is indeed departing Riley will be the second senior executive the beleaguered NZF Group has lost in the last three weeks – chief financial officer and company secretary David Watton's departure was announced on April 18. The latter's departure was one of the factors which influenced High Court judge David Collins's decision last week to extend the freeze of NZF Group's assets until further orders of the court.
The judge decided the receivers of NZF's former finance company have an arguable claim against NZF and there is a serious risk of NZF's assets being dissipated.
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