ANZ is merging its Asia and Pacific businesses under the remit of current Asia chief executive Gilles Plante, who will become Asia-Pacific CEO.
Plante, who was recently given overall accountability for ANZ’s retail franchise in Asia and the Pacific, will remain based in Hong Kong, reporting to Alex Thursby, CEO international and institutional banking.
In addition, Vishnu Mohan will be appointed as CEO for the Pacific, reporting to Plante.
Based in Fiji, Mohan is currently CEO for Fiji and will retain in-country responsibility for Fiji as part of his expanded remit. Mohan replaces the previous Pacific CEO Michael Rowland, who has taken a new ANZ role as general manager, transformation, customer experience and business productivity.
Commenting on the appointments, Thursby said: “We have previously increased our focus on in-country execution, cross-business and geographical connectivity by including retail banking Asia-Pacific in Gilles’s remit as CEO Asia. Bringing the Asia and Pacific regions together under his leadership, in the new role of CEO Asia-Pacific, is to further increase this focus.”
Plante brings more than 23 years of experience in international banking, 15 years of which have been with ANZ. In addition to his current role, Plante is also chairman of ANZ China and a director of AmBank, in which ANZ holds a 24% strategic investment.
Mohan joined ANZ in 2007 and was previously CEO for Papua New Guinea and the Pacific northwest region. Prior to this, he was an adviser to AmBank in Malaysia and spent more than 30 years with Standard Chartered in senior executive roles covering the Middle East, North America, Africa, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Singapore.
Plante and Mohan’s new roles are effective November 1, 2012.
