ANZ chief Nuno Matos starts to recast bank in his own image
Under Matos, ANZ now boasts an executive line-up that has some of the broadest international experience among all the Australian banks.
The chief executive has installed new heads to each of ANZ’s weakest spots – retail, risk and technology – all three areas that have been called out by the chief executive as needing urgent improvement. And each executive has some link to Matos’ global banking career.
But it’s the captain’s call for ANZ’s retail banking boss that represents the more unorthodox choice by Matos.
He’s gone for a career McKinsey executive, the Tokyo-based Pedro Rodeia, who is now in charge of $333bn in home loans, credit cards and nearly 400 branches across the country.
Apart from a summer internship with Goldman Sachs back in the mid-1990s, Rodeia has never worked in a bank, although he’s worked around banks, including ANZ, throughout all of his three-decade career with McKinsey. He’s currently one of McKinsey’s most senior global executives, as a senior partner with the firm that also takes in the role of chairman of Japan.
Matos has worked with Rodeia at times through his own banking career.
It helps that both are Portuguese and both studied finance at the same university (Catholic University of Portugal).
McKinsey has a long history with ANZ, starting decades ago with the famous Breakout cultural reform program under John McFarlane, and Rodeia has recently been advising Matos in the background as the ANZ chief prepares his new strategy – with all set to be unveiled on Monday.
This means Rodeia has already signed up to the rebuild strategy, which involves heavy job losses and cost-cutting. Matos has already foreshadowed plans to cut 3500 staff and 1000 contractors over the coming year with most losses across the retail bank and technology.
Make no mistake, Rodeia is well regarded in finance circles. He has been advising banks around the world including on technology, retail strategy and removing complexity. Some saw it a matter of time before he signed on to an executive role at a lender. Still, advising and running the banking show involve different skillsets, and ANZ with its deep cultural quirks will be a test. National Australia Bank chief Andrew Irvine is a former McKinsey alumina, although he worked his way up to the top through business banking.
Rodeia’s appointment follows the exit of ANZ’s former retail boss Maile Carnegie, who left in June. She was another unorthodox pick by then boss Shayne Elliott, coming to the bank after running Google in Australia and before that several executive roles at consumer brands powerhouse Proctor & Gamble. ANZ’s other key line roles have been left untouched: Mark Whelan continues to run institutional banking and Antonia Watson remains in charge of New Zealand.
Where the pressure will be on Rodeia will be the integration of the recently acquired Suncorp Bank. Along with Matos, he will also ultimately be on the hook for the future direction of the increasingly maligned $1.5bn tech project ANZ Plus, which is over budget and has under delivered.
On joining in May, Matos set out three priorities – around execution of projects; lifting returns at ANZ’s Australian retail and corporate businesses; and improving how ANZ manages risks.
Here Matos has also named top risk executive Christine Palmer, who has headed up risk at Spanish bank Santander UK for the past five years. Palmer worked as a risk executive at UK business lending specialist Aldermore Bank and in top risk roles at RBS. Matos was based in London for a stint with HSBC, where Palmer was on his radar.
The third person in place for Matos is a new technology boss, where he has tapped former HSBC colleague Donald Patra, who has worked as top tech executive for HSBC’s Europe and UK operations. As one time HSBC Europe boss, Matos leaned on the tech executive to help prepare HSBC’s French bank for sale.
Patra has worked across HSBC’s complex global tech and will now play a key role in cleaning up the Australian bank, including delivering ANZ Plus quickly, while moving millions of customers off legacy systems with minimal disruption.
With Matos’ new-look team soon to land, the ANZ revolution has only started.
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As Nuno Matos puts the finishing touches to his new management line-up, one thing is clear: the ANZ boss is increasingly surrounding himself with people he instinctively trusts or has worked with in the past, to help him steer the revolution.