ANZ left unawares on Opes Prime

ANZ presented its worst face to its new boss not long into Smith's eight years at the helm of ANZ, when the securities lending business bankrolling Opes Prime fell apart in a florid manner in early 2008.

The bank made a great escape in many ways from Opes Prime and securities lending.

"Quite clearly the bank hadn't understood what risk it was taking. The people who ran it knew what was going on. It hadn't risen up the chain," ANZ CEO Mike Smith explained in one of his final interviews yesterday.

"The real issue was reputational risk which hit us in spades."

Smith assured "there were no briefings" on arrival on Opes Prime.

"The reputational risk unfolded a few months in."
 
Asked about the risk management culture, Smith said: "It's changed. It has changed very significantly.

"Not so much the risk culture. There wasn't a good process in place.

"And I think the risk appetite was inappropriate. That changed a lot. Our credit book was 54 per cent institutional type risk. Now it's 80. Very different."