Diaspora

By Barbara Sumner Burstyn

Sunday 1st December 2002

According to Ian Phillips, general manager Americas of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the road from Gore to New York is not so far. In fact, talking to Phillips in his New York office, with its view of the Empire State Building, you get the sense that distance of any kind is an intellectual construct rather than an expanse of kilometres to be covered.

But being in the right place at the right time has helped. When Phillips started as a trainee with the Bank of New Zealand in the early 1970s, New Zealand's foreign exchange market was a closed shop. "We were a financially naïve country," he says, and describes the pre-cappuccino New Zealand from a financial perspective. "The flow of money was strictly controlled, with exchange rates set by Reserve Bank on a daily basis rather than a free-floating currency."

This meant that by the time he'd worked his way up and moved to New York, 22 years ago, playing the money market was a sport almost as exhilarating as rugby. "We worked out a calculation to second-guess the New Zealand dollar and essentially treated it as floating. So while New Zealand was closed for business, we were scurrying around trading. It was a lot of fun. Importantly, though, it supported international business for New Zealand."

The Phillips family is an international one, with children born in Sydney and London and Debra, Phillips' wife of 22 years, a native New Yorker. But Phillips still rolls his Rs and describes himself as a Kiwi. He's risen through the ranks with a mixture of old-fashioned pioneering values, a flair for timing and an innate sense of the sport of the marketplace. He attributes his own success to good mentoring and the building of top client relationships.

"The importance of mentoring and forging relationships are probably the most important things I took away from Southland," he says. To this end, Phillips has been instrumental in establishing the New York New Zealand Business Group. The group's 30 members host functions for New Zealanders visiting New York on either business or political visits. "Helen Clark was very well received here," he says. He describes Clark as a good listener and a good leader and admits, despite his National Party background, that her knowledge economy policies are working internationally.

Phillips is also deputy chairman of the American Australian Association, which recently moved to establish a scholarship fund to support study in the US. Starting this year in Australia, the scholarship will open to New Zealanders next year.

So does Phillips see himself staying on the international stage?

"I'm not intending to return to New Zealand in a full-time capacity," he says, "but that doesn't preclude a New Zealand-centred vision."

A key focus is the relationship between Australia and New Zealand. One of his future endeavours will be to foster greater ties between the two countries. Despite the natural antagonism, the two are joined at the hip. For both to prosper and benefit from international investment, Phillips says, they need to cultivate that relationship. He is actively looking for ways to grow that unity.

He says he's open to ideas - especially from young imaginative banking types who may be looking for an innovative mentor. Apply here.

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Diaspora

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