The bank has confirmed that Steven Harker has retired from the board as of Tuesday. Chairman John McFarlane said Mr Harker considered retiring earlier this year to focus on his health as he requires a double lung transplant.
Mr Harker first joined the board in 2019 and has been a member of the board audit, board legal, regulatory and compliance and board renumeration committees.
Mr MacFarlane thanked Mr Harker on behalf of the board for his “considerable contribution” to Westpac.
“Steve’s investment banking experience has been invaluable to Westpac particularly in contributing to deliberations on our institutional bank,” he said.
“We commend Steve for his professionalism and commitment to shareholders throughout his tenure and wish him a fast recovery.”
Mr Harker said “the time is right” for him to retire.
“I am confident Westpac is on the right path to restore trust and performance for customers and shareholders."
The news comes after Westpac announced a $1.3 billion hit to its profit due to writedowns in its institutional business and provisions for customer refunds and litigation earlier this month.
Westpac Institutional Bank (WIB) will write down $965 million in assets, including $487 million of goodwill, $344 million of capitalised software and $325 million of other assets including property leases.
The bank said that the earnings outlook for WIB has been impacted by low interest rates, subdued income from financial markets and increased compliance costs.
Westpac also announced $172 million in additional provisions for customer refund payments, associated costs and litigation, along with a previously announced hit of $267 million in costs related to the sale of Westpac Life Insurance Services.
Neil Griffiths
Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.
Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.
