Sophie Elsworth: Westpac’s Brian Hartzer resignation after payout defies belief
Brian Hartzer’s belief that he could survive a scandal involving global child abuse truly speaks volumes about how badly the banking sector still needs a shake-up, writes Sophie Elsworth.
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The sheer arrogance of Westpac chief executive officer Brian Hartzer defies belief.
To sit in his plum job raking in $4.9 million dollars a year – the equivalent of $94,200 a week – and to state that facilitating payments to paedophiles in the Philippines is no big deal. Seriously?
You have got to be kidding yourself Mr Hartzer.
This shows how out of touch you are with the real world.
How can Westpac’s millions of customers who have home loans, credit cards, savings accounts and other products actually have confidence in their bank when this is going on under their watch?
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To have allegations of more than 23 million breaches of anti-money laundering laws against one of the nation’s largest financial institutions is almost incomprehensible.
This is the same bank that announced a $6.85 billion full-year profit.
You know things are really bad when the executive team turns on the top dog.
This is exactly what happened when insiders at the banking giant leaked to our sister publication, The Australian, that mainstream Australia was not overly worried about this paedophile money scandal.
“But actually for people in mainstream Australia going about their daily lives, this is not a major issue so we don’t need to overcook this,” Mr Hartzer said inside the closed meeting.
To stay in the top job for nearly a week before finally falling on his sword highlights that the American-born banking boss wasn’t planning on going anywhere.
He thought he could ride this out.
And he was missing in action when the outgoing chairman Lindsay Maxsted and incoming interim chief executive officer Peter King fronted the media on Tuesday.
They did not disclose his whereabouts and instead Mr Maxsted said, “In terms of Brian today this is about the future”.
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Instead Mr Hartzer thought turning off the beer taps, free-flowing prosecco and canapes by cancelling the bank’s Christmas parties was going to be enough.
And he could carry on as usual.
As for chairman Lindsey Maxsted, he’s bringing forward his retirement to the first half of 2020.
While it was a very different situation with ex-National Australia Bank boss Andrew Thorburn and his chum, former NAB chairman Ken Henry, he too is in the same category of hanging on with dear life.
Let me be clear the two situations are vastly different: the NAB boss was criticised in the banking royal commission’s final report for not learning from past mistakes.
This included charging fees for no service.
Thorburn even took off on extended leave during the mess when Royal Commissioner Kenneth Hayne handed down his final report.
Again, this proves how out of touch these bank bosses really are.
As they say, timing is everything.
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And while the fallout will continue for Westpac, only time will tell whether customers actually vote with their feet and shift banks.
Sadly, I fear this will not be the case.
Despite the disgusting revelations that came to light last week, I’m tipping few customers bother to up and leave the bank.
Shifting institutions is something that we put in the “too hard” basket.
The only way these banks will learn is when they see a mass exodus of customers taking their products with them and kissing them goodbye.
Then they might start to realise the need to be more accountable for their actions.
Until then, sadly, we will continue to hear of more bad behaviour and poor practices within out nation’s banks.