An ignominious end for Hartzer

It was an ignominious end to a career in Australian banking that started a quarter of a century ago when Brian Hartzer – a graduate of Princeton University, where he studied European history – first arrived in the country.

Has Brian Hartzer been too 'woke' to the detriment of core business? AAP

Karen MaleyColumnist

Updated Nov 26, 2019 – 8.40am, first published at Nov 25, 2019 – 8.09pm

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Brian Hartzer was never going to give up the top job at Westpac without a fight. People who have called him in the past few days to express their support following the shocking AUSTRAC allegations that Westpac failed to properly monitor thousands of payments potentially linked to child exploitation were impressed by his calm demeanour.

"He sounded pretty good – quite determined. He's a fighter," said one friend. "I think he couldn't believe the child stuff. He's just absolutely committed to fixing it."