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Nuno Matos, the former HSBC and Santander executive, has been appointed as the new chief executive of Australian bank ANZ as it grapples with an investigation into alleged bond price rigging, and bad behaviour on its trading floor.
ANZ said on Monday that Matos, who was considered a leading candidate for the chief executive role at HSBC, would replace long-serving leader Shayne Elliott next year.
The Portuguese banking veteran said in a statement that the Australian bank was in a “unique competitive position” in Australia and New Zealand.
Matos, formerly head of HSBC’s wealth and personal banking business, missed out on the top job to the group’s chief financial officer Georges Elhedery, who took over in September following Noel Quinn’s unexpected plans to retire.
The banker has spent almost a decade at HSBC, having joined from Santander in 2015, and held several roles within the bank, including CEO of its Mexico business and regional head of retail banking and wealth management in Latin America. Matos was appointed to lead the wealth and personal banking division after Charlie Nunn left HSBC to become chief executive of Lloyds Bank.
HSBC announced in August that Matos would leave the bank, putting him on the market for a new job, with the expectation that he would seek out a chief executive role elsewhere. Matos built a reputation for cutting costs within his division and was known as a demanding boss, according to former colleagues.
ANZ is the third of the “Big Four” Australian banks to replace its chief executive this year but the first to look past internal candidates for the role.
Under Elliott, who has been in charge for nine years, ANZ has withdrawn from international markets and grown its core domestic business, which included the A$4.9bn acquisition ($3.3bn) of rival Suncorp Bank, announced in 2022. The deal was the biggest move to consolidate the Australian banking sector since 2008.
However, ANZ is also the subject of an ongoing regulatory investigation into damaging allegations that the bank rigged the pricing on a government debt issue. The bank also admitted in July that it had provided incorrect data to the bond regulator last year.
Three traders have left the bank this year, and another has been formally warned, due to being drunk in the office. Elliott has appeared in front of MPs to answer questions about the series of issues and committed to a “drains-up” review of its culture and practices.
Matos, who will take over in July, will be charged with transforming the culture of Australia’s fourth-largest bank while integrating Suncorp. ANZ said that it considered numerous internal and external candidates and felt the Portuguese was the “right person” to continue the bank’s transformation.
Matos will earn A$2.5mn a year, including pension, and is eligible for a potential short-term bonus up to that amount and a maximum long-term award of A$3.4mn.
ANZ shares fell 3.6 per cent on Monday morning.
