ANZ Financial Chief Shayne Elliott Named CEO

MELBOURNE, Australia—The long-serving chief executive of Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. and an architect of the lender's expansion into Asia, Mike Smith, will step down at the end of the year. He will be succeeded by the bank's chief financial officer.

Mr. Smith, who joined ANZ in 2007 after almost three decades at HSBC Group, will step down after eight years as CEO and a director on Dec. 31. His replacement, Shayne Elliott, is another banking-industry veteran whose past roles included senior positions at Citigroup Inc.

The election of Mr. Elliott followed a detailed review of external and internal candidates, Chairman David Gonski said.

"Shayne's international banking and financial experience, together with his background in Australia and New Zealand makes him the right person to lead ANZ in a challenging global environment," Mr. Gonski said.

Mr. Smith took the helm at ANZ, the fourth-largest of Australia's so-called "Big Four" banks by market value, as the world was entering the global financial crisis. Despite that, Mr. Gonski said he helped the bank grow market share in Australia and develop in the Asia-Pacific region with operations in 34 countries.

Mr. Elliott comes to the top job at a time when lenders in Australia are expected to find it more difficult to keep expanding their businesses as the country's economy struggles to transition away from resources investment-led growth. Regulators around the world are also forcing lenders to hold billions of dollars in additional capital as buffers against future crises.

Mr. Smith's departure comes after Brian Hartzer in February took over as CEO of Westpac Banking Corp., and Andrew Thorburn in August 2014 took over as CEO of National Australia Bank Ltd. Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd.'s CEO, Ian Narev, has held the post since December 2011.

Before joining ANZ in mid-2009 as head of institutional banking operations, Mr. Elliott was based in Dubai as chief operating officer of Middle East investment bank EFG-Hermes. Before that, he spent 20 years at Citigroup, holding senior positions in Australia and New Zealand, the U.K., the U.S. and in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.

Mr. Smith said that following the smooth transition as Mr. Gonski took over as chairman last year, he felt it was an appropriate time to step down.

"Shayne and I have worked closely together for the last six years, particularly in his last three years as CFO. I know he will make an exceptional chief executive," Mr. Smith said.

Mr. Smith—who was president and CEO of Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corp., chairman of Hang Seng Bank Ltd. and chairman of HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd. before joining ANZ as CEO—will be retained by the bank as a nonexecutive adviser to the board for an initial period of one year, ANZ said.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at [e-mail]

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 30, 2015 20:55 ET (00:55 GMT)

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