Former ANZ chief executive David Hisco. File photo / Sarah Ivey
Former ANZ chief executive David Hisco. File photo / Sarah Ivey
Editorial
EDITORIAL:
On the face of it, New Zealand's largest bank could hardly have made a worse job of accounting for itself.
Expenses which ran into the "tens of thousands of dollars" over David Hisco's nine-year tenure as chief executive at ANZ New Zealand included personal use of chauffeur-driven cars andthe cost of storing his wine collection back home in Australia.
Those of us looking on can surely be excused for being left wondering about the situation. For instance, are banks just asking to be further hated for their seemingly insatiable drive for profit and profligate monitoring?
This is an operation which made a record $1.98 billion profit to the year September 2018. In the same period. Hisco's remuneration was $3.76 million. And ANZ's Australian parent last month reported a first-half net profit of A$3.17b.
The country's largest bank, ANZ New Zealand made another record profit in 2018, hitting $1.986 billion for the year to September 30. File photo / Richard Robinson
The bank's Melbourne headquarters has been occupied with coughing up A$175m to compensate customers for bad behaviour revealed by Australia's damning Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry. And another A$533m worth of customer repayments are to be handed over in the second half of this year.
But back to this country.
The full details of Hisco's spending, and what on, are not being volunteered, despite the obvious skin of many New Zealanders in the game. ANZ holds just under a third of New Zealand's mortgages, whose interest payments have helped underwrite commuting by chauffeur-driven wheels. But what else?
ANZ chairman Sir John Key tried to explain things by saying the heart of the issue was not the expenditure itself, but the way the spending appeared in the bank's accounts: "It was either in our view mischaracterised or there was a lack of transparency. Not the money itself but the way it was recognised in the ANZ books." Key said it looked like a business expense when it was a personal expense.
Chairman of ANZ Bank Sir John Key speaking at a press conference on the departure of chief executive David Hisco. Photo / NZME
Trying to argue that personal expenses can be business expenses reaches far beyond trying to argue a pair of undies are togs just because there's a beach nearby.
Apparently, Hisco believed he had a spoken agreement with the previous group chief executive of the Australian bank over the use of chauffeur-driven cars. Try taking a loan from any bank on that kind of basis.
The timing of the disclosure also leaves questions. ANZ staff were told Hisco was taking extended leave for health reasons on May 30. His departure was announced on June 17. Asked about the delay in telling the Reserve Bank and announcing Hisco was leaving, an ANZ spokesman said it was because its review was "ongoing" and had been complicated by Hisco's medical leave.
In his parting statement - from an undisclosed overseas location where he's recuperating from health issues - Hisco said: "Whilst my family and I were proud to become NZ citizens in 2016, we continue to learn about NZ and its unique culture."
Perhaps, as well as the lesson from forfeiting unvested equity worth around $6.4m, Hisco - deserved or not - is also learning about being brought to account in an era of mistrust in banks.
