Case Studies

 

 

Country Manager ANZ Bank Fiji

The incumbent ANZ Country Manager Fiji requested a move back to Melbourne; therefore the Director of Pacific Banking retained Reach Management to conduct a search and selection process for his replacement.

We secured the acceptance of our client to undertake an international search that would include both the banking and non-banking sectors. As leadership skills and broad based managerial experience was keenly sought we agreed that the parameters should not be confined to the banking and finance communities, although it was preferred that the appointee did possess prior exposure to these industry sectors.

As the ANZ Bank held a significant market share in Fiji in an environment undergoing renewed competitive activity on the part of several major regional banks, the brief was to secure the best available candidate indigenous to Fiji.  In taking this preferred approach the Director of Pacific Banking wished to send a clear message to the Fijian business and general community that the ANZ Bank valued its dominant status and would continue to put its best foot forward in the provision of significant benefits to its many trusted and valued stakeholders.

The CEO Fiji held overall responsibility for ANZ’s operations in Fiji as well as playing an integral role in driving the Pacific’s Growth Agenda in Fiji ensuring maximum sustainable profitability and continual growth.

The role was accountable for the delivery of significant business growth and profitability through a highly developed understanding of the key business drivers, understanding the needs of the customer base and strong change leadership to embed a customer centric and proactive sales culture to deliver on growth objectives.  The role also required a focus on operational excellence to deliver on the key customer value propositions and requisite people development.  Critical to success was to ensure people in the business understood the need to change to adapt in order to deliver on ANZ’s growth agenda.

The role did enjoy a strong customer focus, with experience in interacting with customers at all levels to understand their business needs and required being an internal and external advocate in dealing with their unique requirements.

The role also had an ambassadorial element within the Government and business communities of Fiji to ensure continued understanding of the country and regional growth strategies and directions.  In addition this role had wide-ranging responsibility in actively supporting Pacific initiatives and, in particular, the growth agenda designed around embedding a customer centric and proactive sales culture in the business to deliver a sustainable growth in profits.

The chosen competencies included the following:

a) Driving Superior, Sustainable Results.
b) Commitment to Customer Success.
c) Succeeding through Collaboration.
d) Breakthrough Thinking.
e) Inspiring Others.
f) Courage to Transform.
g) Managing Tensions.

We secured the acceptance of our client to undertake an international search that would include both the banking and non-banking sectors. As leadership skills and broad based managerial experience was keenly sought we agreed that our parameters should not be confined to the banking and finance communities, although it was preferred that the appointee did possess exposure to these industry sectors.

As this search process was truly international in order to secure the best available indigenous executive talent, we called upon the following key influencer groups.

a) Universities and their alumni
b) Fijian Ambassadors/Consul Generals in five countries
c) The big four accounting firms
d) Every major financial institution in Fiji including the CEO of the local stock exchange and key members of the Reserve Bank.
e) Editors of every major newspaper
f) Major publishing houses
g) CEO’s of every listed organization in Fiji
h) Fijian Ministries including Foreign Affairs, Trade and the Reserve Bank
i) All the major trading entities in Fiji

The search took us into more than twenty countries and we were able to secure the keen interest of over 100 executives with approximately 80 resumes received, including a number of well qualified executives reporting directly to the highest office in the country.

The selection process involved travel to several countries and notably not a single executive withdrew from consideration during this critical phase.

We actively promoted two candidates with both appointed to local Board positions within ANZ Fiji, reinforcing the quality of those persons presented.

These candidates enjoyed considerable international profiles within their respective fields (Finance and Petroleum industries) and following these appointments, they have attained further respect for being the first local appointments to such prominent roles in Fiji. We are aware of their considerable impact in the area of strategy and matters cultural.

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