ANZ eyes revamp as local chief Fred Ohlsson exits

ANZ Bank chief executive Shayne Elliott may restructure its under-pressure Australian division.

ANZ’s departing head of Australia Fred Ohlsson’s remuneration was down $400,000 this year. Picture: John Feder

ANZ Bank chief executive Shayne Elliott may restructure its under-pressure Australian division, following a decision by Fred Ohlsson to take a career break and step down from leading the unit.

Mr Ohlsson will leave the bank, prompting a review to determine “the best structure for the Australian division”, ANZ said yesterday.

It is unclear if 17-year ANZ veteran Mr Ohlsson will return to the bank. He will hand over the baton on an interim basis to group executive of business and private banking Mark Hand in January.

ANZ is the only remaining bank to have a separate head of Australia, with Mr Hand and two heads of retail banking reporting to Mr Ohlsson under the prevailing structure.

Mr Hand was appointed to lead business and private banking in May after joining ANZ in 1988. He has held senior roles across business and retail banking, credit management and internal audit in Australia and South Asia.

Mr Elliott will need to decide whether to retain the current structure of the Australian division or unwind it.

“The (head of Australia) role never made much sense, it was an extra layer of management,” a fund manager who covers the stock said on the basis of anonymity.

“It may be them streamlining back to what everyone else (other major banks) has.”

In a note to clients last month after ANZ’s results, Macquarie Group research analysts highlighted the Australian division as an area the bank needed to improve on.

“Challenging trends within the Australian division were the key area of disappointment in the second half of 2018,” they said. “ANZ lost market share across most parts of its portfolio (mortgages, deposits and SME). In our view, ANZ needs to improve its performance in the above segments in financial year 2019 for its strategy to be deemed successful.”

The ANZ statement yesterday said Mr Ohlsson would take an extended unpaid career break in his native Sweden.

“Fred is a valued colleague and can be proud of the significant contribution he has made to ANZ over many years. He has put in place a strong and diverse leadership team and we are fortunate to have an experienced retail and commercial banker in Mark Hand to lead our Australia Division,” Mr Elliott said.

Mr Ohlsson said: “I’m grateful for the opportunity to be able to take a career break.”

Before his current role in early 2016, Mr Ohlsson served for five years as managing director of retail and business banking in New Zealand.

ANZ’s annual report, which was released in November, showed Mr Ohlsson’s total remuneration for the 2018 financial year was down more than $400,000 compared to last year, as his variable pay dropped.

Most bank executives have been hit by cuts to their bonuses this year to account for disturbing revelations at the Hayne royal commission.

Mr Elliott’s pay was down by $950,000 this year, to $5.25 million.

ANZ posted a 5 per cent drop in annual cash net profit to $6.49 billion for the year ended September 30, and along with its peers has flagged a tough revenue outlook.

Separately, ANZ said on Thursday it had been appointed as a core provider of banking services for the NSW government, alongside rival and incumbent Westpac Bank.

Under the agreement, ANZ will deliver services across cash management, payments, merchant acquiring and cross-border banking requirements from April.

These services will be divided between ANZ and Westpac. The contract is for three years, but there are options to extend.

The NSW government also named ANZ as an innovation partner.

ANZ’s group executive for digital banking, Maile Carnegie, said: “Like banks, governments are facing changing expectations from their citizens and need to respond in a way that’s intuitive, flexible and innovative. The NSW government is progressive in its thinking.”