Australia's Westpac Banking Corp. will combine its chief risk officer, financial crime and compliance leadership roles as it seeks to deepen efforts to simplify the lender.
Chief Risk Officer David Stephen will leave along with Les Vance, who headed financial crime and compliance, according to a Feb. 3 statement. Ryan Zanin will become the new chief risk officer, joining from Fannie Mae in New York, where he held a similar role. He will start in May.
Zanin, the former president and CEO of GE Capital's restructuring and strategic ventures group was named executive vice president and chief risk officer at Fannie on Feb. 1, 2021 after another EVP, Andrew Bon Salle, stepped down.
Westpac Chief Executive Officer Peter King said the appointment continues a "risk transformation" at Australia's oldest bank, which has been plagued by compliance issues for years.
Westpac was fined a record A$1.3 billion ($930 million) in 2020 to settle the country's biggest breach of anti-money laundering laws — a months-long saga that cost former CEO Brian Hartzer his job. The bank admitted to failures in monitoring customers for transactions related to possible child abuse, or conducting adequate risk assessment of overseas banks.
Then, last year, Australia's securities regulator said it is probing Westpac on allegations of insider trading relating to its role in executing a A$12 billion interest-rate swap transaction in 2016.
King in the statement Thursday said Zanin is a "proven risk leader with extensive risk management experience, having held senior risk roles at some of the world's largest financial services companies, including Fannie Mae, GE Capital and Wells Fargo."
