Bank of Queensland CFO Ewen Stafford to depart, adding to the bank’s high churn rate

The Brisbane-based bank continues to churn through its top executives, this time losing chief financial officer and chief operating officer.

Bank of Queensland CFO Ewen Stafford is the latest executive to leave the $5.44bn lender. Picture: Jono Searle/NCA NewsWire

Bank of Queensland continues to churn through its top executives, this time losing chief financial officer and chief operating officer Ewen Stafford, who is exiting after just two and a half years at the regional lender.

The $5.44bn ASX-listed bank on Thursday confirmed Mr Stafford’s departure and named his deputy, Racheal Kellaway, as his replacement.

In a blow to chief executive George Frazis, Mr Stafford, who only joined BoQ in November 2019, will exit at the end of June to take on an executive role at mortgage broker Loan Market Group.

“The transition period ensures a smooth handover of CFO responsibilities and positions the group to maintain momentum in executing its transformation plan, strengthening the balance sheet and managing costs,” the bank told the market.

Ms Kellaway, who also joined BoQ in 2019, will be the first female CFO in its 148-year history.

“I am thrilled that Racheal, with her wealth of financial services experience and deep understanding of the group, will be leading our finance function into the future. The appointment is testament to both Racheal’s capability and the depth of talent within the senior leadership of our business,” BoQ chief executive George Frazis said.

Mr Stafford is just the latest in a long line of executives to walk out of BoQ in recent years.

Former chief customer officer Danielle Keighery is only out the door a matter of months, having lasted just one year at the lender, while former head of business banking, Fiamma Morton, departed in September.

Ms Morton had been in the role just 15 months and replaced Peter Sarantzouklis, who himself only lasted in the job for five months, from August 2019 to January 2020.

Mr Sarantzouklis had taken the reins from Doug Snell, who was acting head of business banking for eight months.

Head of retail banking Lyn McGrath was another unexpected exit. Ms McGrath left BoQ in early 2021 after only joining the bank in mid-2018.

The numerous exits have all taken place under the watch of Mr Frazis, who is known for being hard to work with. Mr Stafford’s exit is understood to be in part due to a personality clash with the CEO, though BoQ disputes this claim.

“That view is untrue,” Mr Stafford told The Australian.

“I’ve enjoyed my time working with George over the past two-and-a-half years, and I feel we’ve built a strong partnership based on trust and respect.”

The timing should not come as a surprise, given what the bank had achieved since he took on the role, Mr Stafford added.

“We’ve almost completed the strategy presented to the market in February 2020, and the group will be announcing the next phase of the strategy in June this year.

“BoQ also purchased ME Bank, where I was the executive sponsor and we are well placed to complete integration this financial year.

“A succession plan has been in place with Racheal as the deputy CFO for some time, and a new challenge was presented that I didn’t want to miss.”

Mr Frazis has been at BoQ just a few years: he was named in the top job in June 2019 and took on the role a few months later, taking the bank on a multi-year transformation strategy.

In an internal memo to staff seen by The Australian, Mr Frazis said Mr Stafford had been an integral member of the executive team since joining in late 2019.

“He played a key role in developing the group’s turnaround strategy. During his tenure Ewen has overseen consecutive reporting periods of improving business performance, as well as the transformative $1.35bn acquisition of ME Bank – a feat many in the market told us would not be possible,” Mr Frazis told staff.

“Ewen’s dedicated leadership has allowed us to meet, and exceed, our critical integration targets, demonstrating for customers and investors that BoQ has the capability and strategy to deliver on our plans.”

For Mr Stafford, it is a return to Loan Market Group following his brief stint at BoQ. Formerly a director and advisor with Loan Market from 2015 to 2018, Mr Stafford will rejoin the company as executive director and chief operating officer.

At BoQ, Paul Newham will take on the COO role, reporting to chief information officer Craig Ryman.

The regional lender is due to hand down its half-year results on April 14. Morgan Stanley analysts this week said BoQ was on track to deliver positive ‘jaws’ over the full year — this is when income growth outpaces expense growth — with an even stronger outcome tipped in fiscal 2023.

“However, we believe that margin pressure and legacy ME Bank franchise performance are near-term headwinds, so year-on-year revenue growth will be flat and ‘jaws’ will be slightly negative in the first half 2022,” they said in a research note.

BoQ announced the $1.325bn acquisition of ME Bank in early 2021, completing the deal last July.

Shares finished the session down 0.6 per cent at $8.42.