ANZ’s Shayne Elliott won’t complete Suncorp bank integration, board actively weighs succession

ANZ chief Shayne Elliott doesn’t expect to remain in the top job to see through a multi-year integration of Suncorp’s bank, as he hinted at a potential changeover in 2025.

ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott has been in the bank’s top job since early 2016. Picture: John Appleyard/Snappleyard

ANZ chief executive Shayne ­Elliott doesn’t expect to remain in the top job to see through a multi-year integration of Suncorp’s bank, as he hinted at a ­potential changeover in 2025 while the board actively considers the issue of succession.

Mr Elliott told The Australian the integration of the $4.9bn Suncorp bank acquisition was a “huge opportunity” for ANZ, but he was unlikely to remain at the helm to complete it.

“That’ll take years, I don’t think I’ll see it through,” he said. “They can invite me back for it.”

In some of Mr Elliott’s more specific comments on the timing of his departure as CEO, a role he has held since early 2016, he also said: “The timing will be up to them (the ANZ board) and the discussions we have together over the next year or so.”

ANZ overcame a series of hurdles to complete its purchase of Suncorp’s bank in late July, shifting the focus to how Mr Elliott will bring the entities together without triggering too much customer leakage.

The controversial transaction was announced about two years ago and was opposed by the competition regulator in 2023, before that decision was overruled by the Australian Competition Tribunal in February.

“We want to integrate this (Suncorp banking) business. We want to bring those customers over to ANZ,” Mr Elliott said.

“I understand why people are worried or sceptical about it, but we’re feeling good.”

Mr Elliott has overseen a simplification of the bank’s local and Asian operations, but more recently his tenure has been marred by regulatory issues.

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission is investigating irregular trading and price activity in the government bond and futures market relating to a $14bn issuance jointly managed by ANZ last year. The prudential regulator in August forced ANZ to hold another $250m in capital due to governance and risk lapses. That takes the total additional capital being held for compliance and governance failings to $750m.

Mr Elliott last week vowed to implement a significant number of changes to ANZ’s policies and practices before the year’s end in an attempt to boost its risk framework and clean up the bank’s culture, after a review led to three employees exiting and one receiving a formal warning.

The regulatory and cultural issues have heightened expectations the ANZ board may bring forward a CEO changeover, particularly given how long Mr Elliott’s existing tenure has lasted.

ANZ board member Christine O’Reilly – a member of the risk, people and culture and nomination committees – told The Australian succession planning was a key responsibility for the bank’s non-executive directors.

Asked whether ANZ’s board was actively assessing CEO succession planning, she said: “It’s on the agenda, and so it should be.”

While in Singapore to mark the bank’s 50th anniversary of operating there, Mr Elliott was also asked about succession planning and when he may step down.

“I’ve been there (in the CEO role) for over eight years. And as time goes by, obviously we talk about it as a board,” he said.

“We talk about it more and more, as you can imagine. My job in that is to give the board the best possible choice of internal candidates. Now, at the end of the day, the board will decide … they’ll go, we’ll go, through a process – whether it’s an external person or an internal. My job, though, is to make sure they have the best possible choices in front of them.”

Investors and analysts had considered institutional banking boss Mark Whelan the frontrunner to take the reins but the latest regulatory and cultural issues in his division may see him overlooked. Other internal candidates include head of New Zealand Antonia Watson, retail banking boss Maile Carnegie and finance chief Farhan Faruqui.

Mr Elliott said he remained energised as CEO but when he vacated the role he was unlikely to take on another executive post or a non-executive director role.

“I feel very privileged to be here, but I know I can’t be here forever … I’ll do what’s right for the bank at the right time, and it obviously will need to be a change at some point,” he said.

“I’ll know it’s the right time, and I feel very confident that I’ve got some amazing talent to put in front of the board.

“So you know, I’m already in that position of feeling confident that the board has some great choices ahead of it.”

Mr Elliott said his current role was “the pinnacle” of his career.

“I’m very proud to be part of ANZ warts and all,” he added.

After ANZ “I’m not going to be in another executive role … I don’t really have aspirations around non-executive roles.”

As a group, the big four banks have had a patchy record over the past 25 years when it comes to bedding down mergers and acquisitions.

They flooded into wealth management before retreating from the space, and Westpac is only now integrating its complex and disparate technology systems after buying St George in 2008.

Mr Elliott has previously described the Suncorp bank purchase as involving a migration of customers, rather than an integration of systems.

In June, he said the transfer of Suncorp customers would occur in two to three years given they were moving to ANZ’s new Plus digital banking platform, which is still being developed.

Joyce Moullakis travelled to Singapore as a guest of ANZ .

Originally published as ANZ’s Shayne Elliott won’t complete Suncorp bank integration, board actively weighs succession