Interim CEO Peter King has been confirmed as Westpac Group's chief executive officer for at least the next two years, effective from 2 April. Incumbency seems to have been the crucial factor in getting King across the line.He has been the bank's interim CEO since December last year, when former boss Brian Hartzer was forced to quit after Austrac filed charges alleging Westpac had failed to forward details of tens of millions of offshore transactions over a six year period, as well as breaching anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulations.Hartzer was soon followed by Westpac's long-serving chairman Lindsay Maxsted, who agreed to bring forward his retirement to "the first half of 2020". This came sooner rather than later, with banking veteran John McFarlane joining the Westpac board on 23 January, slated to take over as chairman on 2 April 2020.In a statement to shareholders, McFarlane, CEO of ANZ from 1997-2007 and chairman of Barclays from 2015 to 2019, stressed the need for stability in the leadership team."We need a chief executive in place now, not later, and with full, rather than acting authority. On my recommendation, the Board has appointed Peter King as CEO. Peter has agreed to do this for two years," McFarlane said.King was given the nod ahead of a large field of strong local contenders.  These included Mike Baird, then NAB's chief customer officer; Medibank chief executive (and a former NAB CFO) Craig Drummond; and strong internal options in the form of David Lindberg, Westpac's consumer products chief executive, and Lyn Cobley, head of institutional banking.In a statement to investors yesterday, McFarlane said the board and its new chief executive had decided the C-suite's annual short-term variable rewards for 2020 will be cancelled, "in recognition of collective accountability for the financial crime outcomes in Westpac's business which led to the action brought by Austrac".This decision will see King forgo his share of a short-term bonus of A$2.4 million, normally paid in two instalments over two years. His long term incentive payment of $3.2 million will not start until next year. Nevertheless, King's salary will edge higher -the base salary $2.1 million he was receiving as acting CEO becomes $2.4 m (which Westpac said included salary, superannuation contributions and salary sacrificed benefits). He will be earning the extra pay from day one.Westpac's new hard-charging chairman McFarlane, in announcing the decision to stick with King took the opportunity to set out his thoughts for board renewal, starting with risk management. McFarlane outlined a plan to split his board's approach between the ongoing non-financial risk and compliance tasks, while allocating time to strategic reviews of management quality and CEO succession.At least, thanks to his former CFO role, King will know where the balance sheet is most vulnerable to the radical changes to the bank's customer base, even with the huge amount of government support for the economy. The government-mandated lockdown will impact credit quality: the window dressing afforded by an improving economy in recent quarters will be quickly wiped away.