Brendan White quits BoQ, day after CEO Jon Sutton leaves

ANOTHER top executive of Bank of Queensland has quit, having been recruited for new job at Cash Converters by the bank’s old managing director.

BoQ’s Brendan White is heading to Cash Converters. During stints at CBA, pictured, and then BoQ, he was a colleague of Cash Converters chairman Stuart Grimshaw.

ANOTHER top executive of Bank of Queensland has quit, having been recruited for new job at Cash Converters by the bank’s old managing director.

The departure on Thursday of Brendan White, head of BoQ’s business lending division, comes a day after the surprise resignation of BOQ chief executive officer Jon Sutton, who blamed heart surgery.

Both Mr White and Mr Sutton were old Commonwealth Bank colleagues of Stuart Grimshaw, who recruited them to Queensland when he ran BoQ between 2011 and 2014.

Mr Grimshaw, having been offered a massive bonus package, suddenly defected to Texas-based pawnshop lender EZCorp in 2014. It is a major shareholder of Perth-based Cash Converters International, which has 726 stores in 18 countries.

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Now Mr White has left 176-branch BoQ to become Cash Converters CEO and starts in March next year.

“I will be leaving BoQ business (division) in great shape,” Mr White told the stockmarket. Mr Grimshaw said he could “personally attest” to Mr White’s “demonstrated capabilities”.

The move caused ruffles among industry — Mr White was a good friend of Mr Sutton. Sources with knowledge of Mr White’s appointment said he had been contemplating the move for months and it was unrelated to Mr Sutton’s departure.

As The Courier-Mail reported earlier, BoQ had back in May brushed aside concerns that Mr Sutton’s heart surgery could lead to his resignation, only to say on Wednesday that it was the sole reason for him leaving.

It came with BoQ suffering increasing staff discontent and problems with loan growth, although the business division has been strong in areas such as lending to doctors.

The departures have raised industry speculation about whether any others might leave.

Along with Mr White and Mr Sutton, BoQ’s chief risk officer Peter Deans was another former CBA colleague of Mr Grimshaw’s who came over in 2012.

BoQ’s interim chief executive officer Anthony Rose came to the lender in 2012, and had roles at Suncorp and investment banking previously, and is seen as a potential permanent CEO. Another contender for the top role is BoQ chief financial officer Matt Baxby, himself who came in 2012 from Virgin Money.

But industry figures also told The Courier-Mail that the board might look outside BOQ for a new CEO, with executives from big four banks potentially seeking such a regional-lender role given the hammering suffered by major lenders during the royal commission.

Mr White will earn a base pay at Cash Converters of $720,000, with potential annual bonus targets of $1.26 million. His pay package at BoQ last year was $1.55 million.

BoQ accounts show Mr White was awarded 50,076 shares in the bank 2018, but sold the lot in that year. He started with 3330 shares in the year and finished with that same amount.

Cash Converters has worked out a $1.3 million payout for Mr White to compensate him for forfeiting future BoQ bonuses. The payout is in cash spread out of several years, subject to conditions.

Ironically, Mr Grimshaw had kept $5.8 million worth of BoQ bonus shares when he suddenly left for EZCorp.

BoQ chairman Roger Davis, regarded by some bank sources as a strong supporter of Mr Sutton, declined interview requests for a second-day running.