{"id":588733,"date":"2026-09-03T08:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T08:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/588733\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T08:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T08:50:12","slug":"suspended-markets-watchdog-boss-resigns-as-probe-handed-to-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/588733\/","title":{"rendered":"Suspended markets watchdog boss resigns as probe handed to ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Financial Markets Authority’s chief executive Samantha Barrass is leaving her role immediately, ending a suspension imposed weeks ago amid allegations now being folded into a Government-commissioned investigation.<\/p>\n

FMA board chairperson James Miller said Barrass had confirmed to the board an earlier decision not to seek renewal of her term, which expires in January.<\/p>\n

Barrass had also told the board she needed to travel to the UK, where her elderly father had been admitted to hospital, and would then stay on for a governance course she was scheduled to attend.<\/p>\n

“In those circumstances, the board has agreed with Samantha that she will leave her role now and that her suspension ends,” Miller said.<\/p>\n

Barrass had been suspended in recent weeks<\/a> while allegations against her were investigated. An independent inquiry led by Paul Wicks KC will now be absorbed into a separate investigation commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).<\/p>\n

Barrass said she looked forward to taking part in the MBIE process.<\/p>\n

“The last few weeks have been very challenging for me, as I have found myself on the receiving end of allegations, and where I have had to take time out for them to be investigated,” she said. <\/p>\n

“I won’t comment further on them at this stage. That’s for the MBIE investigation process to get to the bottom of, and I trust it will do so.”<\/p>\n

Barrass led the regulator for five years and said she felt privileged to have held the role, thanking the board that appointed her.<\/p>\n

“It has been a challenging mission reforming and expanding our regulator to become fit for its purpose and positioned for its next era, but it has been equally rewarding.”<\/p>\n

Alastair Hercus will be as acting chief executive while the board searches for a permanent replacement over coming months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Financial Markets Authority’s chief executive Samantha Barrass is leaving her role immediately, ending a suspension imposed weeks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[138,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-588733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}