John Key

He was added to the New Zealand National Business Review (NBR) Rich List for the first time in 2008 and is the wealthiest New Zealand Member of Parliament.

He was born to George Key and Ruth Key on 9 August 1961 in Auckland, New Zealand. His father was an English immigrant and a veteran of the Spanish Civil War and World War II while his mother was an Austrian Jewish immigrant. He has two sisters.

He received his primary education from Aorangi School and Burnside High School before enrolling at the University of Canterbury from where he earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree in accounting in 1981.

After completing his education he landed on his first job as an auditor at McCulloch Menzies, in 1982. After sometime he was appointed as a project manager at Christchurch-based clothing manufacturer Lane Walker Rudkin.

He worked with the clothing manufacturer for two years before changing jobs again. He found a position as a foreign exchange dealer at Elders Finance in Wellington, a role that suited him well.

He was hard working and ambitious and soon rose to the position of head foreign exchange trader. In 1988, he was appointed by the Auckland-based Bankers Trust.

He was very successful in his chosen field and in 1995 he joined Merrill Lynch as the head of Asian foreign exchange in Singapore. Within a year he was promoted to Merrill’s global head of foreign exchange in London. He also attended management studies courses at Harvard University.

He developed a deep interest in politics by the late 1990s. When the president of the National Party, John Slater learned of his interest, he decided to recruit him.