After nine years in the role, Shane Elliott is retiring as ANZ’s chief executive and executive director in July 2025.
Elliott first joined the bank in 2009, having also served as ANZ’s global managing director, institutional, and the group’s chief financial officer.
Commenting on the outgoing CEO’s contribution, ANZ Group chairman Paul O’Sullivan said on Monday: “Shayne led the critical transformation that will be the cornerstone of ANZ’s long-term success.”
According to O’Sullivan, Elliott was the first CEO to identify the need for simplification, which would later become a “mantra” for the broader industry in Australia.
“He rebalanced our portfolio to materially improve the capital efficiency and focus of the group while also making our business less complex and safer to manage.
“Under Shayne’s leadership, ANZ now has one of the world’s leading institutional businesses, a new retail bank platform built on industry-leading technology and a culture focused on helping customers and communities thrive.
“He will be long remembered as a CEO that embedded a purpose-led strategy, setting ANZ on the path to long-term, sustained success. The entire ANZ team thank him for his service and wish him well for the future,” O’Sullivan said.
Elliott added that being at the helm of ANZ for the last nine years has been the “highlight” of his career.
“I’m proud to be leaving the bank in such a strong position, particularly the work we have done to simplify the business, transforming institutional into one of the world’s best and preparing our retail bank for the future. The recent Suncorp Bank acquisition will also benefit ANZ for years to come,” Elliott said.
“We have a great team that care deeply about their customers and I will be working hard to ensure our multi-year strategy continues with urgency over the next seven months. I’m confident ANZ has a great future and I wish Nuno every success in his new role.”
ANZ lines up successor
ANZ announced that Nuno Matos will succeed Elliott next year, in addition to being appointed to the boards of ANZ Group Holdings Limited and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited as an executive director.
With more than three decades’ experience across retail, commercial and wholesale banking, Matos was most recently CEO of wealth and personal banking at HSBC.
He has held senior roles including CEO of HSBC Bank plc and HSBC Europe, where he oversaw the transformation of its European business, and CEO of HSBC Mexico.
Before this, Matos served as global head of consumer in Santander’s retail and commercial division.
Commenting on the appointment, O’Sullivan said: “We are very pleased an international banker of Nuno’s calibre and extensive experience will be joining ANZ as our new chief executive to lead the execution of our strategy.
“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.”
The chair commended Matos’ background in leading bank business, risk and technology transformations, which he said would benefit ANZ as it prepares to scale the migration of its customers, including those from Suncorp Bank across to ANZ Plus.
“The bank is in a strong position and this orderly leadership transition ensures ANZ will continue to deliver for customers, shareholders and staff in the years to come.”
Matos added: “I’ve long admired ANZ, particularly under the stewardship of Shayne, and it’s an honour to have been chosen by the board to lead the next phase of ANZ’s evolution.
“The ANZ franchise has a unique competitive position with two scale domestic markets, a leading institutional banking franchise, and thanks to the work over recent years, it now has its two world-class platforms in ANZ Plus and ANZ Transactive,” the incoming CEO said.
Looking ahead, Matos said his initial focus as CEO will be to build on the work already underway and ensure the group’s stakeholders “get even better value from their relationship with ANZ”.
