KEY POINTS:
Bank of New Zealand chief executive Cameron Clyne has been named to take over from John Stewart at the National Australia Bank - Australasia's biggest lender - from January 1 in Australia.
He will become chief executive-designate in Melbourne on October 1.
"Cameron Clyne is an outstanding executive with the strategic, cultural and leadership qualities that fit the business at this time," chairman Michael Chaney said in a statement .
The Age newspaper in Melbourne reported Mr Stewart was paying the price for the group's badly handled disclosure a week ago of its A$830 million ($1.08 billion) write-offs to cover potential losses on its exposure to US mortgages.
He also issued a A$600m profit warning, meaning NAB is to write off almost all of its $1.2b exposure to mortgage-backed securities which are expected to drop heavily in value due to the US subprime housing loan crisis.
Ironically, Mr Stewart was hired in 2004 to restore NAB's fortunes after US$2.2b in writedowns from the purchase of Florida-based mortgage company HomeSide Lending Inc and a foreign currency trading scandal 4-1/2 years ago almost brought the institution to its knees.
The group's 2008 profits had been expected to be around A$4.4b to A$4.6b but analysts now estimate the result could be as low as A$3.8b.
Mr Chaney denied the announcements of July 25 and that of Mr Stewart's departure were connected.
But despite Mr Stewart saying the bank's underlying businesses are not showing signs of stress, analysts have warned the bank might have to set aside even more funds as it is exposed to A$4.5b in other asset-backed securities.
Mr Clyne has been a member of National Australia's group executive committee for more than four years, and he and Mr Stewart have overseen the lender's "strategic agenda" for 2-1/2 years of that period.
The Australian newspaper reported this week that appointing Mr Clyne would be a high-risk strategy, "particularly against a background in which the New Zealand economy is dragging down the bank's performance and his relative lack of experience in real-world banking".
Mr Clyne was appointed chief executive of the BNZ in March 2007 following two years as executive general manager of group development with NAB.
In his previous role at the NAB Mr Clyne's responsibilities included identifying business development and strategic opportunities, and leading the transformation of the group's major projects.
Before going into banking, he was managing partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers' financial services consulting practice across Asia-Pacific. He has also worked in PWC's practice in New York.
The Australian suggested before the appointment was announced that an NAB executive, Ahmed Fahour, "would seem to be the natural choice ... but, inexplicably, the powers to be seem to have their minds elsewhere".
- NZPA
