Hundreds of bank executives sacked since the Royal Commission
The Banking Royal Commission was bound to unearth misconduct in the finance industry – and to cause a stir amongst the staff within it.
Since the Royal Commission, three of the four CEOs of the Big Four banks have stepped down, with ANZ’s Shayne Elliott the only CEO remaining.
Yahoo Finance took a look at the executives who were axed:
Westpac: CEO and compliance officer sacked
Westpac’s Brian Hartzer stepped down on 2 December 2019, following the bank’s money laundering and child exploitation scandal.
Amanda Wood, Westpac’s money-laundering reporting officer who led the bank’s response to the AUSTRAC investigation over 10 months was also sacked after reporting the breach to officials.
ANZ: More than 200 jobs cut
In October last year, ANZ’s CEO revealed the bank fired over 200 staff for wrongdoing, including 10 senior executives.
In June this year, ANZ’s New Zealand boss, David Hisco, was axed for his personal use of chauffeured cars and storage space worth tens of thousands of dollars over several years.
Commonwealth Bank: CEO steps down, top executives gone
CBA had axed 41 senior employees as of October last year and nine had resigned, bank chief Matt Comyn revealed.
CBA’s former CEO, Ian Narev, stepped down shortly before the Royal Commission took place.
NAB: CEO and chair axed; thousands more to come
NAB chair, Ken Henry and CEO, Andrew Thorburn, both resigned in February this year, after Royal Commissioner Kenneth Hayne slammed the executives for their conduct during the Commission.
The CEO’s replacement, Ross McEwan, flagged 6,000 job cuts in July this year, as the bank sought to transform its image.
AMP: Chair and CEO gone
In April last year, AMP chair Catherine Brenner resigned from her position following the Royal Commission.
AMP’s CEO Craig Meller also resigned at the same time, becoming the first of the big four bank bosses to lose his job as a result of the inquiry.
European banks axe thousands of job
Across the top ten banks in Europe, new figures have revealed that staff number have fallen a fifth since 2009 to 1.1 million, with the companies citing poor profitability.
Moody’s statistics revealed many of the job cuts were from struggling investment banks, and flagged the profitability gap between euro-area banks and global peers would widen further.
The 18,000 job losses at Deutsche Bank were the most severe, followed by France’s Société Générale, which eliminated 1,600 roles.
BNP Paribas shut its entire proprietary trading arm, and the UK’s HSBC announced thousands of job losses too.
More recently, UniCredit said this week it planned to cut 8,000 jobs and close 500 branches.
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