A clarification to this article was issued on August 9, 2011

Peter Hele, NAB Group’s new managing director of product and strategic alliances*, says the company plans to launch as many as four products by year-end while seeking to win business in New Zealand.

Hele, 41, may make “some appointments”, including a N.Z.-based salesman, in order to bolster his team to 12 people. NAB will seek to win custody business across the Tasman, he says.

“After the failure of the Bank of New York transaction we are going to demonstrate robust function about product,” says Hele. “We’ve been looking at N.Z. for two to three years and feel we’re well positioned to pick up new relationships by using BNZ.”

NAB will launch new products, including one that will monitor compliance reporting for superannuation funds and another that will assist self-managed funds, which made up 32 per cent of the $1.4 trillion superannuation funds under management as of March.

Hele plans to make a “strategic alliance” with an administrator in the next month.

NAB’s custody division, which employs about 3000 people**, has about $600 billion in assets under custody in Australia.

CLARIFICATION
* This article originally gave Peter Hele’s title as the new managing director of asset servicing.
** NAB’s custody division employs 600 people. NAB’s wholesale banking division employs 3000 people.