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."