ANZ claims safety threat led it to hide Hisco's mansion address
Saturday, 22 June 2019
The address of the $7.5 million Auckland mansion bought by ANZ for now-departed chief executive David Hisco was kept off the public record because he feared for his safety.
The Companies Act requires all directors to list their home address on the public Companies Register, which is designed to promote transparency in business.
But the ANZ Bank New Zealand Companies Register entry only lists Hisco's residential address as: 'Held By Registrar, Auckland, 1010 , New Zealand'.
This can only happen in exceptional circumstances, and spokesman for the ANZ said: 'The residential address of Mr Hisco was not on the Companies Office website due to threats to his and his family's safety.'
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The lavish six-bedroom, three garage home with tennis court and heated swimming pool on St Heliers Bay Road in Auckland was bought by ANZ subsidiary company Arawata Assets Limited in early 2011 for $7.5m, but sold to Hisco's wife Deb Walsh in July 2017 for just $6.9m.
Valuations service QV put the property's 2017 capital value (including an estimated $7.2m land value for the 2454sqm parcel) at $10.75m.
The bank said the home was sold to his wife based on market valuations 'done at the time'.
It also said a 'housing allowance that David received as part of his expat arrangements — which was disclosed annually — was offset by the market rent David was required to pay ANZ for the house'.
Hisco, who led ANZ to record high profits of $1.99 billion, has departed the bank following an investigation into his expenses, which ANZ NZ chairman Sir John Key revealed found personal spending on wine storage and chaffeur-driven cars characterised as business expenses.
Key said Hisco maintained he had authorisation for the spending.
When Key fronted the press on Monday to announce the reason behind Hisco's departure, the St Heliers Bay Road home was not mentioned.
The suppression of a director's address was a rare thing, a Companies Office call centre staffer said, and it could only be done through an application to the registrar.
'Domestic violence or 'under sentencing' are the only two ways you could get your address suppressed,' the call centre operator said, after speaking with her manager.
However, she thought threat to a person's life might be another reason, but said: 'You would need to seek legal advice about that.'
The Institute of Directors has been fighting to allow directors to keep their home addresses private, arguing an address for service is all that is needed, especially for directors of companies in sensitive industries.
In a consultation paper proposing to let directors keep their home addresses secret, the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) said the Companies Act 1993 required that each company's record included the 'full name and residential address of each director', and 'the Companies Act requires the register, including all documents on it, to be publicly accessible'.
There are penalties or fines of up to $200,000 available for providing false information to the Companies Office, and even imprisonment.
Last year, British American Tobacco breached the Companies Act by choosing to suppress its directors' home addresses, arguing it did so to protect their safety.
The company's spokeswoman Janice Thein said: 'We have made that choice for the safety of all our directors', but afterwards the tobacco company listed directors' home addresses on the registrar.
The St Heliers Bay Road home was bought by the bank from former Hanover Finance director Greg Muir.