ANZ appoints Indonesia and Cambodia Country CEOs
ANZ today announced the appointment of Joseph Abraham to the role of CEO Indonesia and Stephen Higgins as CEO Cambodia.
Indonesia is one of the key Asian growth markets and Mr Abraham will be responsible for ANZ’s retail and institutional business in Indonesia and the Group’s partnership with Panin Bank. He has significant experience and expertise in Asian banking markets after more than 20 years with Standard Chartered Bank (SCB). Most recently, Mr Abraham was Chief of Staff, Client Relationships for SCB in Singapore. He was previously Head of Strategy and Product Management for North East Asia, based in Hong Kong and has also held senior roles in Ghana, the United Kingdom and India.
As ANZ’s senior representative in Cambodia, Mr Higgins will be CEO of ANZ Royal Bank, which was established in Cambodia in 2004.
Mr Higgins has been Head of Investor Relations at ANZ since 2005 after joining the Investor Relations team in 2000. In this role, he is responsible for the Group’s global investor relations program and management of relationships with investors, brokers, and banking and market regulators. Prior to this, Mr Higgins held various roles in both Corporate Banking and Esanda, ANZ’s asset finance business, having joined ANZ in 1994.
Commenting on the appointments, ANZ Group Managing Director Asia Pacific, Mr Alex Thursby said: “Country CEOs will play a crucial role in ANZ’s growth strategy in Asia, including being responsible for the ANZ-branded retail and institutional businesses, and our partnerships in their markets, as well as managing relationships with governments and regulators in that country.
“We are pleased to have people of Joseph and Stephen’s calibre joining the leadership team for our South and South East Asian business as we develop and implement focused growth strategies on a country-by-country basis.”
Both Country CEO are subject to regulatory approval and will report to Mr Thursby until the commencement of the CEO South and South East Asia. An appointment to this role is expected to be announced in the next couple of months. Mr Joseph is due to start with ANZ on 15 April and Mr Higgins commences in his new role on 5 May.