Grant Abbott Email Address

Head of Operations

ASB Bank is a financial services company which located in Auckland.

A nigh on 20 year tax veteran who originally trained at Coopers & Lybrand, I jumped at the chance to get closer to the business in 2010 taking a role as ASB's General Manager Rural Segment (responsible for Rural strategy, events and risk and control). An organisational change in 2012 (which made the role into more of a sales specific role) led me to jump into the arcane realm of research and data. The ability to lead meaningful change made a move into operations (initially for ASB Corporate Banking and then for Corporate Banking and Global Transaction Banking) an attractive proposition. Developing on the skills I gained in the operations space, together with a burning desire to do things a better way, led to a 2 and a half year stint focusing on business lending transformation. Recently I took a role at Kiwibank leading product governance I'm good at problem solving; I deliver practical solutions because I understand the challenges that face both frontline teams and the centre functions that support them. I believe that business data, though highly valued, is paradoxically a highly under-utilised resource. I'm a huge advocate of providing a fishing rod rather than a fish and, to me, a spade is an implement for digging holes (not for moving dirt or other extraneous substances). I'm not embarrassed to say that I still keep abreast of the ebb and flow of tax jurisprudence in New Zealand (you can take a boy out of tax...).