Macquarie's Changing of the Guard

I guess we probably should start with, um, Macquarie.

Yeah.

Big news at the AGM last week.

That being the, the, the major CEO succession, uh, Shemara.

I think both of us, Stephen, were, were, um, excited for the Macquarie AGM anyway.

Obviously, Macquarie was facing a second strike against their pay report.

Um, there was, you know, this, this news of, th-these reports that the, uh, Joyce Malakias, our, our, our Macquarie guru, has been writing about cultural issues inside Macquarie Capital.

And then Macquarie one-upped us by announcing Shemara's departure, uh, and the new CEO-- appointment of the new CEO, a guy called Greg Ward, who's been running the banking and financial services division, and running it very successfully, uh, I, I must say, Stephen.

J-Just on Greg Ward for a minute, I mean, BFS has basically come from nothing, you know, a decade ago to become the, the most important challenger brand in Australian banking.

Every bank in Australia spends a, an inordinate amount of time worrying about Macquarie-

Mm

...

in, in the banking division.

But I think s-still, for all that, Shemara's-- the timing of Shemara's departure was a bit of a surprise, and even Greg Ward's appointment was a bit of a surprise, I reckon.

What was it, what was the feeling like on the floor of the AGM?

Oh, look, I think that, that certainly stole everyone's thunder in terms of, like, people were thinking that it'd be hot on the whole KPMG audit issues as well.

Um, but look, I think she, she exits on top.

I mean, you know, she's done thirty-nine years there.

There's not too many CEOs out there who've done thirty-nine years, have never sold a share for their entire time they've been at the company, and walks out the door with three hundred and seventy million dollars worth of stock and doesn't get a bollocking like, say, Alan Joyce, who, uh, [laughs] you know, stayed for about as long as Shemara, or probably a bit longer actually, and left.

You know, stayed too long and left.

Everyone talking about his pay, a hundred and twenty-five million pre-tax, you know.

And a total debacle, and he's writing books to defend himself.

So Shemara's-- Look, she's just had a great run.

I think she can name her board if she wants to go on any board in the country.

Um, I think that, that, that she could go there and, and, you know, Macquarie is one of our greatest success stories, and the share's at, at a record high.