Philip Chronican new CEO of Australia (PDF 28kB)
ANZ today announced the appointment of Philip Chronican as CEO Australia reporting to ANZ Chief Executive Officer Mike Smith.
In the role, Mr Chronican will be responsible for ANZ’s Australian geography with specific responsibility for the Bank's Retail, Commercial and Wealth Management businesses.
Mr Chronican will also be Segment Leader for ANZ’s Retail businesses globally. Mr Chronican will join ANZ in November 2009 and will be based in Melbourne. He replaces Graham Hodges who has been acting in the role since May 2009.
Mr Hodges will continue in his permanent full time role as ANZ’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer. During a 27-year career with Westpac, Mr Chronican established a reputation as one of Australia’s leading banking executives. Until July 2009, he was Group Executive, Westpac Institutional Bank responsible for the global corporate and institutional banking business.
Previously, Mr Chronican was Chief Financial Officer from 2001 to 2005. Formerly, he has held a number of senior financial roles at Westpac including with the Retail Banking Group where he was responsible for the development of retail strategy, financial planning and control, and the leadership of the retail bank change program.
Commenting on the appointment Mr Smith said: “I am delighted to have been able to attract someone of Phil’s calibre to run ANZ’s largest business. “He’s one of Australia’s most respected bankers and his experience makes him ideally suited to continuing the growth of the Australian business and to making a significant contribution to our super regional strategy.
“I also want to acknowledge Graham Hodges for his leadership of the Australia Division in recent months including leading last week’s acquisition of ING Group’s 51% shareholding in the Australian and New Zealand wealth management and life insurance joint ventures. This provides a strong foundation for Phil and the Australia Division team to continue to build on,” Mr Smith said.