NZ farmers’ insurer FMG is moving its corporate office to Wellington because of recruitment problems in the small provincial city of Palmerston North.

Forty of its 110 staff will move to Wellington later this year while the central office remains in Palmerston North.

GM Marketing David Clapperton says the mutual has grown quickly over the past few years. Its Palmerston North head office has been on its current site for 100 years, but staff numbers have grown from 40 in 2000 to 110 today, and the company has indicated there have been problems finding employees in the area or recruiting people willing to move there.