ANZ Institutional confirms executive leadership additions

Included in the announcement is the appointment of Stuart Smith, who has been listed as the bank’s head of commodities. 

Mr Smith arrives at the executive role after serving as the head of commodities Asia Pacific for Citigroup. Prior to this, he was also the global head of commodity structuring for Commonwealth Bank and the head of commodity sales & structuring for Deutsche Bank across Asia. 

In his new position, Mr Smith will be based in Singapore and will be responsible for managing ANZ’s commodities sales and trading across five markets. 

These markets are said to cover a range of asset classes including energy, agri commodities and carbon. 

He replaces Sergio Pagani, who left ANZ after nine years with the bank to relocate to the UK for personal reasons.

ANZ managing director, markets Shayne Collins commented that Mr Smith “brings an impressive track record in building businesses and unique experience in both sales and risk management”. 

“The commodities business is an important pillar of the bank’s environmental sustainability strategy and his unique understanding of the energy markets positions our team exceptionally well,” Mr Collins said. 

This green focus is also reflected in ANZ confirming it has established a new role focused on the sustainability sector. 

Coined as the head of environmental markets, the position will work closely with the bank’s sustainable finance and markets teams to assist in providing more environmentally focused offerings. 

ANZ has confirmed that it has appointed Andreas Kodell as the inaugural holder of the title. 

Mr Kodell comes to the position after spending almost a year with ANZ as an environmental, social and governance adviser. 

Prior to this, Mr Kodell was a partner as well as the chief operating officer and chief risk officer with KEAL Capital Investment in London, and the managing director – London for Deutsche Bank.

He will report to Mr Collins and ANZ’s managing director, corporate finance Christina Tonkin. 

Ms Tonkin said of Mr Kodell’s appointment that ANZ’s priority is to “help our customers capture opportunities that will help them hit their net zero targets”.

“This is an important new role helping bring together our existing strength in this area, while also building on it for the future,” Ms Tonkin said.

ANZ’s appointments come as more and more banks shift towards providing more sustainable products for customers.

Last week, Bank Australia confirmed that it would be providing discounts on loans for homes that exceeded an energy rating threshold. 

This followed CBA’s April announcement that it would be providing a similar loan discount. 

Last year, non-bank Firstmac and the mutual lender Gateway Bank both revealed that they would be launching discounted home loans for certain sustainable properties. 

Some in the industry have suggested that this trend in banking will continue, with sustainability being a top priority for borrowers.

In January, Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) president Hayden Groves said that demand for sustainable homes and businesses will only increase moving forward.

“Demand for sustainable homes or homes with sustainable features will increase, as will client expectations that we as real estate agencies are running sustainable businesses,” he said.

“This could be anything from preferences for complexes with electric car charge points right through to homes built with green materials or powered by renewable energy.”

[Related: Bank Australia flags discounts for greener homes]