ANZ looking for Australian CEO

ANZ said it appointed Graham Hodges acting chief executive of the bank's  Australian operations following the weekend decision of Brian Hartzer to leave the bank and take a new job elsewhere.

One rumour reported by the Australian is that Hartzer's new job is with RBS.

Hodges was recently elevated to deputy CEO of ANZ. He ran ANZ's operations in New Zealand until recently and was head of corporate and business banking in Australia before that.

Hartzer's record over 13 years at ANZ, running first the cards and consumer finance arm and then the whole of retail banking, is pretty favourable.

The bank led the way with the introduction of fairly structured and tolerably priced "all you can eat" style of charging for everyday bank accounts, while the bank also worked its way past the barriers to investment in growth in the retail bank (such as systems constraints).

ANZ thus made some headway in the retail banking markets, in which it was always a relatively poor performer, during Hartzer's tenure in key retail banking roles.

ANZ is the top performer in the Roy Morgan retail customer satisfaction survey among the larger banks, having overtaken its longstanding rival for the number one spot, St George.

The bank links the improved performance in customer satisfaction with growth in retail market share. The bank estimates its share of retail customers at more than 20 per cent, putting it in second place.