ANZ's Westie boss cuts limo drivers

Shayne Elliot, ANZ Chief Executive, visits his childhood home, 3 Milich Terrace, Te Atatu. 09 March 2016 Herald on Sunday photograph by Michael Craig

The Kiwi boss of ANZ across the Tasman has cut the number of on-call limousine drivers for bank executives from five to one, reports the Australian Financial Review.

Shayne Elliott, the chief executive of ANZ, has ended the era of executive perks at the bank, the AFR says.

As well as cutting the limo drivers, his predecessor's large office has also been turned into a meeting room, the AFR reports.

The AFR says that Elliott earns about A$6 million a year (if he gets bonuses) compared to former boss Mike Smith's A$10 million.

Elliott, the son of a builder who grew up in Te Atatu South, took over the top job at ANZ earlier this year.

A keen All Blacks fan and home handyman, Elliott joined ANZ in 2009 as the head of its institutional branch where he was responsible for the bank's largest corporate and financial institutional customers across 32 countries.

Prior to that he had a long career with Citibank including a time as chief executive of the Egypt office.

An ANZ New Zealand spokesman said it did not have any on call limos here but confirmed the New Zealand business was also on a cost-cutting drive.

"As [ANZ NZ chief executive] David Hisco has said a number of times New Zealand has had a lid on costs for some time."