Westpac bows to the inevitable

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I was mid incredulous post when the news came through:

Westpac’s chief executive Brian Hartzer will step down from Monday, with chairman Lindsay Maxsted to bring forward his retirement to the first half of 2020.

Additionally, non-executive director Ewen Crouch will not seek re-election at the upcoming annual general meeting.

The current chief financial officer Peter King will step in as acting CEO.

There was no other way. Judging by yesterday’s media about Westpac resistence, I wonder if the Government stepped in.

About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.