Australia's Westpac names new CEO, moving on from governance crisis
Writes through with fresh current and former CEO quotes, updated shares
By Byron Kaye and Adwitiya Srivastava
Sept 9 (Reuters) -Westpac WBC.AX, Australia's second-largest mortgage lender by loans, promoted the head of its business and wealth unit to CEO, vowing to capitalise on improved governance while growing its business lending book.
Anthony Miller, a former head of investment bank Deutsche Bank in Australia who joined Westpac in 2020, will take over on Dec. 16 after Westpac's annual meeting, Australia's oldest bank said on Monday.
Current CEO Peter King will retire, it added. The former chief financial officer who stepped up five years ago oversaw a risk management overhaul following regulator accusations that Westpac failed to stop child exploitation payments.
The changeover underscores the distance that Westpac, Australia's sixth-largest listed company, wants to put between itself and a period of regulatory turmoil that involved a fine of A$1.3 billion ($867 million), an Australian record.
"We're now in the phase which is proving to our regulators that the changes have stuck," King said on a call with journalists.
"It takes time," he added, noting the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority had not yet lifted an order for Westpac to carry an extra A$500 million in cash to reflect higher risk.
Miller, the incoming CEO, said his immediate priority was to advance projects started under his predecessor: finishing the risk overhaul and making sure a technology-based simplification programme was working.
He backed the business mix he had been handed but "we do think that there's opportunities with the business bank", he said.
"There's a lot of ambition we have there to grow that business, but we've got to make sure we do it in a safe and sustainable way."
Shares of Westpac were down 0.8% in afternoon trading, in tandem with a sell-off in the broader market. The stock has roughly doubled during King's time as CEO, while the broader market has risen by one-fifth.
"We would not expect the new leadership to change the direction or outlook for Westpac," said Nathan Zaia, an analyst at Morningstar.
"For Miller, the big challenge will be successfully executing on the technology simplification which is currently underway."
Westpac is the second major Australian bank this year to bring in a new CEO. National Australia Bank NAB.AX picked Andrew Irvine in February to succeed Ross McEwan.
($1 = 1.4986 Australian dollars)
Reporting by Byron Kaye in Sydney and Adwitiya Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Stephen Coates
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