George Frazis exits as BoQ’s strategic priorities change

George Frazis, whose high-society wedding was attended by former PM Malcolm Turnbull, has been turfed out of Bank of Queensland’s top job but he will collect a nice payout.

Flamboyant banker George Frazis, whose high-society wedding was attended by Malcolm Turnbull, Carla Zampatti and Alan Joyce, is not leaving empty-handed after suddenly being shown the door at Bank of Queensland.

The BOQ board moved to end Mr Frazis’s employment on the weekend after deciding the chief executive of three years was not the right fit for the 147-year-old Brisbane bank.

The 56-year-old is expected to receive a payout of about $1.1m under the terms of his contract and he was put on nine month’s gardening leave. Mr Frazis’s total remuneration was $2.8m this year up from $2.3m in the prior year.

Gardening leave is a practice often utilised by employers where a high-level employee or executive has just left the company.

BOQ chairman Patrick Allaway said a global search for Mr Frazis’ replacement had been launched, noting the new chief executive would need to be a “seasoned banker” committed to the restructuring of the bank.

“The board has formed a view that different leadership is now required to ensure BOQ can continue to build a stronger and more resilient bank through future cycles,” Mr Allaway said. “We thank George for his significant contribution to BOQ over the past three years.”

George Frazis

Mr Frazis relatively short tenure at BOQ has not been without controversy. The AFR reported in March that Mr Allaway had admonished Mr Frazis for employing former head of business banking, Peter Sarantzouklis, without telling him he was godfather to Mr Sarantzouklis’ child. The paper also reported he had been criticised for “perceived extravagance of expenses” including meetings at plush hotels. Mr Frazis was not available for comment yesterday.

When asked about those issues on Monday, Mr Allaway said no single issue had resulted in the bank parting ways with Mr Frazis and stressed his employment had not been “terminated for cause.” Mr Allaway praised Mr Frazis for overseeing a return to growth at BOQ.

Mr Frazis, who previously held executive roles at Westpac and NAB, inherited a bank with antiquated loan approval systems, slow customer service and lagging digital offerings.

In 2021, he oversaw the $1.32bn acquisition of one of the country’s youngest financial institutions, ME Bank.

Mr Frazis was a regular in Sydney society before his appointment to BOQ in 2019. He never bought a property in Brisbane, leasing an apartment instead near BoQ’s Newstead HQ, and continuing to spend a considerable amount of time in Sydney and Melbourne.

Mr Frazis was working at Westpac when he married his partner Ken Pratt at Easter 2018 in what was billed as corporate Australia’s biggest same-sex marriage since the plebiscite and attended by Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull along with other dignitaries.

Mr Frazis said in 2019 that he intended to buy a house in Brisbane. At the time he was living in a $8 million penthouse in Bondi that was billed as being “arguably Australia’s finest beach front residence”. “Our intentions are to buy a house in Brisbane in the next six to 18 months, Ken is originally from Brisbane and his sister lives here,” Mr Frazis said at the time. But the bright lights of Sydney held more attraction for Mr Frazis.

BOQ shares closed down 5.6 per cent at $7.14 on Monday.

George Frazis and husband Ken Pratt

Originally published as George Frazis exits as BoQ’s strategic priorities change