BOQ announces new CEO

Non-major bank the Bank of Queensland Limited (BOQ) has confirmed that its current executive chairman and acting CEO, Patrick Allaway, will be the bank’s new managing director and CEO until the end of next year.

Mr Allaway is the bank’s chairman and has been acting in the role of CEO since the former MD and CEO, George Frazis, departed the bank last year.

As such, Mr Allaway will officially step down as chairman today (27 March) and take on the role of managing director & CEO for the period up to December 2024, while the search for a long-term CEO continues.

The bank said that Mr Allaway’s appointment at the helm would “provide stability and continuity during this period, enabling the management team to continue delivering BOQ’s priorities … of strengthening, simplifying, digitising, and optimising BOQ”.

The search process for a long-term CEO will continue, with the bank saying that Mr Allaway’s appointment would allow further time for consideration of a wider pool of external candidates and the further development of internal candidates.

Mr Allaway commented: “I am honoured to serve BOQ stakeholders in my new role and to play a part in our 150-year history. I will continue to lead by living our purpose and values and to progress our work to build an even stronger and better bank for our customers, our people, and our shareholders.

“Our focus is strong financial resilience whilst simplifying our operations and digitising for our future state. We have made material progress in strengthening our capital and liquidity position over the past six months and have maintained quality lending portfolios as we prepare for a more challenging economic environment.”

He added that BOQ had “several programs underway to improve the effectiveness of our control environment and organisational efficiency, building a leaner more agile and digitally enabled bank”.

Given Mr Allaway’s new role, Warwick Negus, who is currently a non-executive director, has been named chairman of the board.

He has been a director since 2016 and has more than 30 years of finance industry experience in Asia, Europe, and Australia. He was previously the CEO of Colonial First State Global Asset Management and MD of Goldman Sachs in Australia, London, and Singapore.

His appointment is also effective from today (27 March 2023).

He has given up a number of directorship positions to “ensure he has time to dedicate to this new role as chair”, the bank said.

Speaking of his new position, Mr Negus said: “It is a great privilege to be elected as chairman by my colleagues. BOQ has a rich history and a bright future, and the Board is looking forward to supporting management in the coming years. 

“We are focused on continuing to build a world-class experience for our customers and bankers backed by a strong and resilient balance sheet.

“I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to Patrick for his work as Chairman of this Board and I look forward to continuing to work with him and the BOQ team.”

[Related: ‘Suboptimal and de-stabilising’ for BOQ head to remain: BOQ chairman]