Bank is developing "good internal options" to succeed long-serving chief executive
ANZ is on the hunt for a successor for long-serving CEO Shayne Elliott, with the board saying it is already developing “good internal options” to succeed the chief executive.
ANZ chairman Paul O’Sullivan said he was also looking at external candidates for the position, and that right now Elliott and the board “are focused on transformation and building the bank of tomorrow.”
“We’ve got to act in the long-term best interests of the business, and that means having internal and external options,” O’Sullivan said in an interview with The Australian. “Part of my responsibility is to make sure that we’re developing options. So absolutely, we’ve got some good internal options. We have actually done some very structured evaluation of our senior executives. We’ve identified where the development needs to be – that’s one of the things we want to see as a board before it would give us confidence that somebody is ready for the next opportunity.”
Elliott is the longest-serving of Australia’s big four bank CEOs, according to The Australian. Formerly ANZ’s chief financial officer, he stepped into the top spot at the beginning of 2016. During his tenure, he has focused on simplifying the bank, selling off billions of dollars of assets including wealth management. He has also overseen a withdrawal of ANZ’s Asian investments in an effort to reduce risk and focus the bank on Australia and New Zealand.
Elliott has been notable for his staying power, as the CEOs at each of ANZ’s fellow big banks have either been forced out early or resigned due to anti-money laundering violations, as was the case for CBA and Westpac, or the Hayne royal commission (NAB).
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Elliott’s long tenure has provided “consistency of strategy” as ANZ has worked to overhaul its technology and simplify its processes, O’Sullivan told The Australian.
While O’Sullivan wouldn’t comment on candidates to replace Elliott, market watchers regard ANZ institutional head Mark Whelan as the top internal candidate. Analysts believe New Zealand CEO Antonia Watson and Australian retail executive Maile Carnegie are also in the running for the job.
ANZ’s recently announced plan to buy Suncorp’s banking business for $4.9 billion is seen as a sign that Elliott tends to remain at the bank for the first phase of integration, assuming the deal wins regulatory approval, The Australian reported. ANZ reportedly intends to finalise its submission on the deal to the competition regulator by the end of the year.
