Before working for ANZ he had stacked shelves at discount department store Target and delivered newspapers - it wasn't until after he joined the bank that Hisco undertook any tertiary education.
Hisco told the Herald in 2013 he got into the bank through a job collecting money from the newspaper sales.
''Some kids would take the money and it was all upside down. Mine was organised and it always balanced.''
The owner of the newspaper also ran the Alice Springs branch of the ANZ and he suggested Hisco apply for a job there.
Hisco was appointed CEO of the ANZ in New Zealand in 2010 after the previous CEO, Jenny Fagg resigned after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
It was his second stint in New Zealand. He previously headed up ANZ subsidiary UDC from 1998 to 2000.
The 55-year-old was already on extended sick leave when the bank announced this morning that he would be leaving after an internal review of his personal expenses.
Hisco had a challenging start as ANZ New Zealand CEO. His first week in the top was the week after the major September 2010 Christchurch earthquake.
He hit the ground running and spent his first day in Christchurch.
Hisco also oversaw the merger of the ANZ and National banks - a move that was hugely unpopular with staff and customers.
But under his watch ANZ's profits have soared. In the year to September 30 2018, it made a record $1.98 billlion.
Hisco's pay packet also rose over time. Last year he banked more than $3.35 million.
But it has not been without its pressure.
Last year, all the New Zealand bank bosses were called to a meeting with the Reserve Bank and the Financial Markets Authority and asked to explain how they were different to the Australian banks which were raked under the coals last year.
In November last year, the Government put the banks on notice after the regulators found "significant weaknesses" in the way New Zealand banks govern and manage conduct risks, and changes needed to be made.
ANZ also came under fire from the regulator last month after the Reserve Bank revoked its accreditation to model its own operational risk capital requirement due to a "persistent failure" in its controls and attestation process.
ANZ is one of four big banks in New Zealand that are accredited by the Reserve Bank to use their own risk models – the internal models approach - in calculating their regulatory capital requirements.
This all culminated in an ANZ press release several weeks ago, saying Hisco was taking some time off work on account of health reasons.
ANZ chair John Key today assured media that Hisco did, in fact, have health problems but there were also other, more questionable, reasons for his departure.
The bank revealed that concerns about Hisco's personal expenses, stretching back nine years and amounting to tens of thousands of dollars.
The issue at hand involved the use of chauffeur-driven cars and personal storage, all billed back to the bank.
Key said the issue does not involve how much money was spent but rather how that spend was characterised in the records.
Those alleged mischaracterisations have now cost Hisco his $3 million-a-year job, $6 million in equity holdings and have left a serious stain on a reputation that was decades in the making.
