In the absence of a clear successor, the question of who will succeed Shemara Wikramanayake as chief executive of Macquarie appears to be feeding on itself. Another round of guessing games has kicked off ahead of the bank’s AGM on Thursday. And while Wikramanayake was named to the job on the eve of its 2018 meeting, sources at the bank insist that it’s definitely not happening (this time).
It won’t quieten chatter around who is even in the conversation. The runners and riders include Greg Ward, the head of banking and financial services. He gained admirers for how he’s run the push into retail banking. But he’s no spring chicken. Then there’s head of asset management and LinkedIn drivel Ben Way, and Macquarie Capital chief Michael Silverton.