Movement by banking majors not only at an executive level

There is talk HSBC may wish retreat from the Australian retail banking market. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Australia’s retail banking industry is in for a shake-up this year, and it’s not only going to be mergers and acquisitions activity creating the change but new names featuring in top executive ranks.

DataRoom understands that the newly appointed chief executives at top-four banks had representatives from global headhunting firms in Australia in recent weeks intending to make some big hires.

Anthony Miller was promoted at Westpac to become the bank’s chief executive in September after running its business and wealth division, while ANZ named Nuno Matos as Shayne Elliott’s replacement, taking the bank’s reins from July.

Mr Matos was chosen over internal candidate Mark Whelan, who runs institutional banking, while Jason Yetton, the chief executive of consumer banking at Westpac, was also understood to be gunning for the top job at Westpac.

Meanwhile, Andrew Irvine was appointed at NAB in April last year so could be moving forward with change.

Unsuccessful internal candidates for CEO roles typically leave soon after a new head is named, so it’s possible jobs held by Mr Yetton and Mr Whelan will be filled by fresh talent in the months ahead.

There would likely be a reset in other parts of the business as the new chiefs make their mark.

But another way banking bosses will be seeking to make their mark this year, according to the experts, is through mergers and acquisitions; particularly with global banks retreating from the Australian retail banking market.

HSBC is one, and there are suggestions it is looking to shut or sell its retail bank in Australia and maybe also its commercial bank – but there is a view others may follow suit.

This could include offshore banks operating in retail banking here like Rabobank or ING, although the Dutch bank has been recently bulking up in Australia after somewhat of a retreat after the global financial crisis around 2010.

Big global banks like HSBC are finding markets like Australia and Great Britain tough to crack unless they already have a major presence there.

They need scale to succeed, and there’s now a pragmatic approach being taken where it is better to exit and concentrate more on the markets where they perform the best.

One possible buyer of the HSBC business is NAB after it already snapped up Citi’s retail banking operation in 2022.

The move to exit Australia comes at a time that HSBC is being sued by the Australian regulator ASIC for failing to protect customers from criminal scams.

Customers lost a total of about $23m between January 2020 and August 2024, ASIC alleged.

For global banks, the question is whether they continue on in western markets like Australia or Great Britain, or whether they try their chances in emerging Asian markets or those in Latin America.

Another bank evaluating its future in Great Britain, for example, is Spanish bank Banco Santander.

Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Banco Santander sold its stake in Credit Agricole’s Caceis back to the French bank in a further sign of a major bank retreating back to home shores.

This came after Spain’s second largest lender, BBVA, bid for domestic rival Banco de Sabadell.