Sometimes bombastic and always candid, Michael Smith will be remembered as the man who went out on a limb to augment ANZ’s Asian banking strategy.
In December, Smith resigns as chief executive of the Australian bank after eight years at the helm. During this period, ANZ’s total assets more than doubled to A$890 billion $644 billion and profits nearly doubled to A$7.2 billion.
Smith hasn’t always been applauded for his so-called super-regional strategy and has had to show patience against often-strong market opposition.
He has persevered on the basis that the strategy makes common sense Australia is geographically close to Asia...
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