The bank’s chief executive is leaving with immediate effect, with the Bank of Queensland (BOQ) confirming on Monday that it has commenced a domestic and international executive search to fill the opening.
The bank said BOQ chairman Patrick Allaway will be stepping into the role for the time being.
Moreover, current BOQ non-executive director Karen Penrose has been announced as the lead independent director during this period.
According to the bank, the appointment of Mr Allaway is designed to maintain stability and ensure that the executive leadership team can prioritise their current roles and responsibilities.
“George Frazis joined BOQ in September 2019 and has overseen a return to growth in all key channels across the bank, the successful acquisition and integration of ME Bank, as well as achieving strong progress in the bank’s technology transformation,” Mr Allaway said.
“However, the board has formed a view that different leadership is now required to ensure BOQ can continue to build a stronger and more resilient bank through future cycles. We thank George for his significant contribution to BOQ over the past three years.”
BOQ said Mr Frazis will receive his entitlements in accordance with the terms of his contract of employment.
Looking forward, Mr Allaway asserted that BOQ’s key areas of focus include strengthening the bank’s financial and operational resilience, as well as continuing to build a cloud-based, digital and data-led scalable bank.
BOQ also intends to work on moving off multiple complex legacy systems to reduce its reliance on manual processes while optimising its performance by homing in on “simplification, productivity, and disciplined execution”.
The board expects the executive process and consequent commencement of the new managing director and chief executive officer to take up to nine months.
