Westpac CEO Anthony Miller shakes up consumer bank but there’s little room for error
Westpac’s new CEO Anthony Miller is yet to completely lock down a new-look executive bench, but has moved to reorganise key parts of the bank’s consumer and business units.
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New Westpac chief executive Anthony Miller is yet to completely lock down his new-look executive bench, but is working furiously behind the scenes to put his stamp on the bank.
This column understands a raft of people and divisional changes were announced internally at Westpac on Friday, as Miller moved to reorganise key parts of the consumer and business bank. It appears to be part of a broader effort by Miller to remove layers of bureaucracy within Westpac, sever lingering overlaps and ties between the consumer and business bank and speed up decision making.
The shake-up sees head of mortgages Damien MacRae become general manager of retail banking, taking over responsibility for branches, proprietary lending, virtual banking and call centres and mortgage broking channels.
But as part of the changes, longstanding Westpac operative Ross Miller – no relation to CEO Anthony – and the bank have decided to part ways.
Ross Miller will leave the bank and his most recent role of chief customer engagement officer for consumer and business in coming months. He is a stalwart of the financial institution having had a more than a 27-year career across Westpac and St George, and even featured in some of the bank’s marketing and advertisements through the years.
James Hutton, Westpac’s enterprise transformation officer who has been working on the sweeping simplification of the bank’s technology, replaces MacRae as head of mortgages. It’s an interesting move for Hutton who overlapped with head of Westpac’s retail bank Jason Yetton when the latter was leading divestments and strategic reviews of unloved business units while overseeing the bank’s specialist division. Hutton had a stint as the specialist division’s chief transformation officer.
But it is Westpac’s mortgage division that will be closely watched by investors in coming months for any signs competitive intensity stepping up, while analysts will also keep tabs on the run-off of loans from its embattled RAMS division which was closed due to a string of issues including a class action by franchisees and a regulatory probe. (The bank ended up settling with each of the 36 RAMS franchisees for undisclosed amounts.)
The aforementioned people moves show Westpac’s new CEO is leaving no stone unturned since taking the reins from Peter King in December.
Other changes Miller announced last week pertain to the composition of the retail and business banking divisions. He is splitting up the cash and transactional banking arm of Westpac. It had housed both consumer and business banking, but those will be separated under the new structure.
Mortgages for small and medium businesses will no longer sit within the consumer bank’s home loan arm and will move to sit within the business bank.
A Westpac spokesman confirmed the changes were communicated to staff on Friday.
Ahead of delivering his first set of interim earnings results in May, there is a lot of focus on how Miller positions the bank and how well he can execute on the technology simplification. The early strategic moves by a new CEO lays the groundwork for their tenure, and Miller needs to get the right people around him to drive the requisite change at Westpac.
Miller, overseen by the board, still has two gaps on his key executive bench to fill. He needs to appoint a new chief financial officer and a head of human resources given the flagged departures of Michael Rowland and Christine Parker respectively.
The CFO role is a crucial one for Miller to get right as the person will have notable engagement with the investment community and assist in helping the bank navigate any further potential rate cuts this year. Working closely with the bank’s treasurer there are also the issues of the prudential regulator phasing out hybrid securities and a potential regulatory capital overhaul under the Basel III endgame.
The head of HR at a big bank that has more than 35,200 employees is also an important role. Parker, who has long had a power base within Westpac, is a veteran at the bank having joined in 2007.
In his first two months in the hot seat, Miller has already made several key appointments. He has tapped BHP’s Fiona Wild to become chief sustainability officer and last week outlined acting head of the business and wealth unit Peter Herbert would become Westpac’s chief transformation officer. Both roles report directly to the CEO.
Herbert’s role has broad responsibility for transformation across the bank’s divisions and technology, including the marquee simplification program, UNITE, which is a major plank of Westpac’s strategy.
Herbert will take on his new role while also continuing to act as head of the business and wealth unit until new external hire Paul Fowler starts in May. Fowler, who is joining from Commonwealth Bank, is replacing Anthony Miller as head of business and wealth after he transitioned to CEO.
Fowler and Miller are both Goldman Sachs alumni, as is Nell Hutton, the head of Westpac’s institutional banking division. One wonders whether investment bankers can instil a more performance-driven culture at a large domestic bank like Westpac that isn’t known for its dynamism.
Westpac early last week reported a lower $1.7bn unaudited profit for the three months ended December 31, compared to the second half of 2024’s quarterly average. The bank’s net interest margin dipped and analysts expect more pressure ahead if official interest rates decline further.
A mixed quarterly update from National Australia Bank just days after its rival’s quarterly results made investors highly jittery last week, weighing on the sector’s valuations against the backdrop of limited avenues for earnings growth.
The challenges ahead really underscore how important Miller’s task is at the helm of Westpac in coming months. There’s little room for error.
Originally published as Westpac CEO Anthony Miller shakes up consumer bank but there’s little room for error
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