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Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has announced the appointment of Rachel Slade as a non-executive director to its group board, effective 13 July 2026.
She will also take on non-executive director roles on the boards of ANZ Group Holdings Limited, the group’s parent company, and ANZ BH Pty Ltd, its wholly owned subsidiary.
Slade has an extensive background in banking, having held several senior leadership roles at major bank Westpac and, most recently, National Australia Bank (NAB).
This includes a 17-year stint at Westpac, where she held several senior roles across global transactional services, retail, and business banking. Slade then joined NAB in 2017, holding several senior roles, including group executive, personal banking; chief customer experience officer; and executive general manager, deposits and transaction services.
Most recently, she served as NAB’s group executive, business and private banking, where she was responsible for the major’s SME, specialised banking, private banking, and advisory businesses.
Slade departed NAB mid-2025.
ANZ group chairman Paul O’Sullivan acknowledged her experience in the announcement, highlighting her track record in strategy and transformation.
“Rachel’s deep and contemporary experience across retail, business and transaction banking, combined with her track record of customer-led strategy and large-scale transformation, will bring valuable operational and customer insight to the boards,” he said.
“Her understanding of complex banking environments and focus on high-quality customer outcomes position her well to support the execution of ANZ’s 2030 strategy and our continued growth.”
Period of change
The latest board appointment comes amid a broader period of change at the major bank, with many recent developments stemming from the arrival of CEO Nuno Matos.
Last year, the bank set out five immediate priorities, including embedding its new leadership team, accelerating the integration of Suncorp Bank, rolling out ANZ Plus to all retail and small-business customers, simplifying operations by reducing duplication, and discontinuing initiatives that no longer align with its strategic direction.
At the time, Matos described the changes as potentially transformative.
“Under these changes we will unlock our potential to win the preference of customers, shareholders and the community,” he said in October last year.
“Under our new strategy, customers are at the centre of everything we do – whether it’s improving their experiences, offering them leading technologies and platforms, or keeping them safe.
“Our first focus is to get back to basics and deliver our immediate priorities, while our four strategic pillars will then accelerate our revenue growth and see all four divisions perform to their full potential.”
The bank has seen growth in both its mortgage and business loan book recently, as it sees higher business lending volumes, institutional core lending volumes and home loan growth throughout the half-year ending 31 March 2026.
[Related: ANZ grows business lending despite rocky international outlook]
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