Retiring ANZ New Zealand Chairman John Judge is to be replaced by former prime minister Sir John Key. Key, who quit politics unexpectedly in 2016, had a career in banking before he entered parliament in 2002, rising to be head of global foreign exchange at Merrill Lynch. It was as a banker that he reportedly gained the nickname "the smiling assassin".  ANZ group chair David Gonski said Key's "strong international career in banking and his understanding of and contacts across the Asia-Pacific - where many Australian and New Zealand companies are increasingly trading - will add great value to the governance of ANZ." Key will step into the role when Judge retires in January next year. The chair of the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission Rod Sims told an audience at the Citi annual investment conference that, from July next year, it will be free to "explore competition topics of our choice", reports the AFR. Meanwhile, and until the end of the financial year, the ACCC would have a mandate to examine how the banks were passing through the bank levy that formed part of federal Treasurer Scott Morrison's May budget. "The big issue in banking is that you have four big players and their market share has done nothing but increase over the past 20 years or so," Simms said.