BOQ elaborates on exit of CEO Frazis
Bank of Queensland (BOQ) has elaborated on its surprise decision to appoint a new chief executive to replace George Frazis.
It was announced last month that Frazis would be departing effective immediately after two years in the role and a search had begun for a new CEO and managing director.
In a speech to shareholders, BOQ executive chairman, Patrick Allaway, said the decision was taken as a “different capability and leadership” was needed to run the business.
“While we respect and acknowledge the contribution that George Frazis has made over his three years with BOQ, the Board reached a conclusion that we need a different capability and leadership style to build a simpler and more resilient bank. Our expectations, in respect of this were made clear to George over a period of time.”
It then considered several options about how to move forward as it understood the uncertainty of being without a CEO was not in the best interest of the business.
Allaway said: “We considered it would be sub-optimal and destabilising for George to continue in the CEO role knowing he did not have the ongoing support of the board while the search for his successor was underway. The board also felt it was important, given the need for stability, to allow the senior executive team to focus on continuing to deliver on our plan, support the wider BOQ team, and keep their attention on what is best for our customers and shareholders.
“BOQ is now actively looking to appoint a new CEO as a matter of priority. Our succession planning process has been monitoring a number of quality internal and external candidates. We anticipate the executive search and evaluation process, and commencement of the new Managing Director and CEO may take up to nine months.”
He said the firm was in the process of a strategic transformation which would see it build a digital and data-led scalable bank. This would move the company away from legacy systems and reduce its reliance on manual processes at the same time as providing a compelling value proposition and building shareholder value.
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
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