New Zealander Shayne Elliott leaving ANZ next year to be replaced by ex-HSBC and Santander executive Nuno Matos

ANZ Banking Group CEO Shayne Elliott will leave the bank next July, being succeeded by former HSBC and Santander executive Nuno Matos.

Elliott, a New Zealander, became ANZ's CEO in 2016 having previously been Chief Financial Officer and Global Managing Director of Institutional Banking after joining ANZ in 2009.

Australia's ANZ Banking Group is, of course, the parent of New Zealand's biggest bank, ANZ NZ which is the country's biggest home and rural lender, second biggest business lender, has the biggest slice of the deposit market, and the highest value of KiwiSaver funds under management.

ANZ says 57 year-old Matos has more than 30 years experience across retail, commercial and wholesale banking. He was most recently CEO of Wealth and Personal Banking at HSBC, having joined HSBC from Santander in 2015 where he was latterly Global Head of Consumer Banking in its retail and commercial division.

Matos started his career as an analyst in the banking supervision department of Banco de Portugal, Portugal's central bank.

Elliott will step down on July 2 next year with Matos taking the helm July 3. Elliott succeeded Mike Smith, another former HSBC executive, in ANZ's top job.

"Nuno's appointment is the culmination of long-term systematic work by the Board on leadership succession. Having assessed multiple external and internal candidates, we know Nuno is the right person to build on the transformation already well progressed under the leadership of Shayne and his team," ANZ Chairman Paul O'Sullivan says.

"Critically, Nuno has led several bank business, risk and technology transformations, which will be a significant benefit as we prepare to scale the migration of customers, including those from Suncorp Bank, across to ANZ Plus as well as supporting our focus on non-financial risk."

ANZ completed the A$4.9 billion acquisition of Suncorp's banking operations in July. Matos will also join the ANZ Board as an Executive Director.

ANZ says Elliott will provide "handover support" up to September 30 next year, the end of ANZ's financial year, when his employment with ANZ will end.

ANZ shares were down more than 3% Monday afternoon following the news of the CEO change. The Australian Financial Review noted a new chief executive with no Australian experience is set to "spend years finishing Shayne Elliott’s signature projects. It’s a perilous sandwich for investors."

Here's ANZ's full statement, including remuneration details.
ANZ has also published an interview with Matos by one of its PR team here.