Mark Hand is out and Maile Carnegie is in as ANZ attempts to resuscitate its mortgage business
ANZ has promoted Maile Carnegie to group retail executive. Carnegie, former managing director of Google Australia, will replace the embattled Mark Hand, who will depart at the end of the year after three decades at the bank.
Carnegie will lead a new division that combines digital and retail banking, according to a report by The Sydney Morning Herald. Her promotion has fuelled speculation that she could be next in line to be the bank’s CEO.
There had already been speculation that Hand was on his way out. The executive was forced to apologise last year for failing to prepare for the COVID-driven mortgage boom, during which ANZ bled market share due to lengthy approval times.
Carnegie, who has been with ANZ for six years, will spearhead the rollout of the lender’s new banking app and digital platform, ANZ Plus. She will report directly to CEO Shayne Elliott.
Elliott is entering his sixth year as ANZ head, while the average tenure for an Australian CEO is five years, the Herald reported. Carnegie’s appointment has fuelled speculation that she could be Elliott’s heir apparent.
Institutional bank head Mark Whelan is also considered to be a front-runner for Elliott’s job, helped by his success in overseeing ANZ’s strategy to reduce its client base in Asia and position the lender to benefit from the decarbonisation trend, the Herald reported.
However, Carnegie is thought to be a favourite of Elliott, and two years of retail banking would give her the experience to be a serious contender for the top job, the publication said. If appointed CEO, Carnegie would be the second female chief executive of a big four bank, following Gail Kelly, who headed up Westpac from 2008 to 2015.
Read more: ANZ out for blood over disastrous mortgage performance – reports
“Shayne thinks highly of Maile and brought her in originally because he thought the future of banking was different to what it looked like in the past,” a senior analyst told the Herald, speaking anonymously. “Someone of her background, with less banking experience, running a division is always seen as a prerequisite to becoming CEO.”
“Maile Carnegie is the right leader to take this business forward,” Elliott told the Herald. “She has brought a different perspective since joining our executive committee in 2016 and made a significant contribution in reshaping our digital offerings.”
