Grimshaw joins Cash Converters board

Former Bank of Queensland chief executive Stuart Grimshaw has taken up residence in Austin, Texas, as new executive chairman of pawnbroker EZCORP, but he is not altogether lost to Australia. Grimshaw has joined the board of payday lender Cash Converters, which is 32 per cent owned by EZCORP. He will serve as chairman of Cash Converters' audit committee.

The appointment was announced back in August this year, after a shake-up of the leadership at the lender of last resort for primarily low-paid workers in 1400 locations in North America, Mexico and UK.

In June 2014, Paul Rothamel was removed as president and CEO by Phillip Ean Cohen, an Australian-born New York investor who controls the NASDAQ-listed company's voting rights.

Cohen also removed the company's chairman, William Love, and board member Joseph Beal (the latter two also being board members of Cash Converters)

In April, two other EZCorp executives announced their departure from the company. Chief accounting officer Jeffrey Byal disclosed plans to leave the company to become the chief financial officer elsewhere. Executive chairman Sterling Brinkley announced plans to retire in late June after serving in the position since 1989.

Grimshaw's rapid departure from BoQ in August also left local noses out of joint, led by the Courier Mail's observation that he had scarpered far sooner than the six-month's notice required by his contract, but was likely to still keep $4 million in long-term bonuses that will vest if future hurdles are met in his absence.