Macquarie names Greg Ward as next CEO

Australia's top investment ​bank Macquarie Group on Thursday appointed long-serving executive Greg Ward to replace retiring CEO Shemara Wikramanayake, a decision investors said showed confidence in the bank's strategy after criticism over executive pay.Wikramanayake, 64, will leave on November 6, the bank said.Also Read: Macquarie India MD & Co-head Deep Gupta quitsWard is a 30-year veteran of Macquarie and most recently headed up Macquarie's retail banking business which has made a concerted push ‌to erode the market ⁠share ⁠of Australia's big four banks in mortgages and retail deposits."All of the businesses are showing wonderful growth over the long term and certainly have under Shemara's tenure.

I think we're tremendously well positioned ​across the entire platform," he said."There's always market events and geopolitical events, and we run a very conservative balance sheet, and I think we're well equipped to handle ​any of those challenges." Investors said the appointment of Ward, 58, signalled the board wanted to continue the strategy adopted by Wikramanayake, who reshaped Macquarie to focus on asset management and infrastructure investment to make it less reliant on volatile investment banking fees."He's probably a safe pair of hands," said Andy Forster, ​a portfolio manager at Argo Investments, a top-20 shareholder in Macquarie."I don't think anything's radically going to change." PREPARED ⁠FOR UNPREDICTABLE ‌CHALLENGES Macquarie Chair Glenn Stevens said both Wikramanayake and Ward, who was chief financial officer during the global financial crisis, had ​deftly handled unpredictable challenges ​such as the pandemic and war in parts of the world."There'll always be things we might not be able ⁠to predict and what we need is agility and decisiveness to deal with those.

Shemara has ​shown that in an exemplary fashion, and Greg has shown that in all stages of his career," ​Chair Glenn Stevens told reporters on a call Thursday.Also Read: Macquarie shortlists three bidders for road assets saleStevens said the bank's board did not look outside of Macquarie to find the next chief executive.

Ward's appointment was signed off on Wednesday night.Macquarie shares rose 0.46% in early trading on Thursday while the S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.95%.

Wikramanayake, who oversaw a more-than doubling of the bank's share price in her nearly eight years at the helm, is one of Australia's best paid company bosses and most high-profile female chief executives.

She was paid A$26.5 million in 2025, reinforcing Macquarie's reputation in Australia as the "Millionaires Factory" as the bank's remuneration policy is closely aligned to ‌executive performance.

The bank faced a shareholder revolt over executive pay at last year's annual general meeting, with Stevens saying the board had reviewed existing remuneration agreements."The board took that feedback very seriously, and we've worked hard over the past year to carefully ​address shareholder concerns," he said ​on Thursday.Macquarie did not release details ⁠of Ward's pay package as CEO on Thursday.Macquarie's shares have climbed from A$124.93 in mid-2018 when her appointment was announced to A$254.93 as of Wednesday's close, outperforming a more than 40% rise in the S&P/ASX 200 index over the same period.CHAIR ALSO SET TO RETIREStevens, a former Reserve Bank of Australia ​governor, is due to retire next year and said succession planning was underway to find his replacement."I think we will be in good shape, and I believe there are people on the board who are more than capable of doing the role," he said.In a first-quarter trading update released on Thursday, Macquarie said its Commodities and Global Markets division's net profit contribution had grown substantially, driven by increased income from commodities trading.The bank does not release quarterly profit figures.

Macquarie will hold its annual general meeting in Sydney on Thursday. ...