Westpac Banking Corporation has confirmed that Anthony Miller commenced as Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director on 16 December 2024, completing a leadership transition flagged by the bank's board earlier in the year. Miller takes over from Peter King, who retired on 15 December 2024 after a 30-year career at Westpac — the last five of which were spent as Group CEO.
King's tenure at the top of Westpac was defined in significant part by the bank's response to a landmark enforcement action by Australia's financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC, which in 2020 resulted in the payment of a record A$1.3 billion penalty following findings that Westpac had failed to report millions of transactions and had allowed transactions linked to child exploitation to proceed without adequate controls. King oversaw a multi-year remediation programme that touched financial crimes compliance, risk governance, technology systems, and customer remediation, restoring the institution's standing with regulators before his departure.
MILLER BRINGS INTERNAL AND INTERNATIONAL CREDENTIALS
Anthony Miller was most recently Chief Executive of Westpac's Business and Wealth division, one of the bank's principal revenue-generating segments covering small and medium enterprise banking, commercial property finance, wealth management, and insurance. His leadership of that division gave him direct operational accountability for a complex, multi-product business and provided him with deep familiarity with Westpac's strategic priorities, culture, and customer relationships before assuming the group role.
Prior to joining Westpac, Miller served as Chief Executive of Deutsche Bank Australia, a role that exposed him to international wholesale banking, capital markets, and the dynamics of operating a foreign-owned investment bank within the Australian financial system. The combination of domestic retail and business banking experience within Westpac and international institutional banking experience through Deutsche Bank Australia gives him a rounded profile for leading one of Australia's four major banks.
The appointment of an internal candidate signals Westpac's board preference for continuity and managed strategic evolution rather than a sharp change in direction. Miller's elevation from a divisional CEO role to the group position reflects the board's confidence in his readiness for the broader responsibilities of leading a systemically important institution that operates across Australia, New Zealand, and select institutional banking markets in Asia and the Pacific.
PRIORITIES AS MILLER TAKES THE HELM
Miller steps into the role as Australia's banking sector confronts a set of structural questions: the trajectory of the Reserve Bank of Australia's monetary policy, ongoing pressure on household budgets from elevated living costs, competitive dynamics in the mortgage market, and the pace of digital transformation across the industry. Westpac's market position in home lending, business banking, and wealth management means that its strategic choices under new leadership will be closely tracked by investors, analysts, and policymakers.
The formal commencement of Miller's tenure on 16 December 2024 closes a well-signalled transition during which both he and King operated within Westpac's executive structure, allowing for a documented and orderly handover of responsibilities. Westpac's board approved the appointment earlier in 2024, providing the incoming CEO with several months to deepen his understanding of group-level priorities and regulatory expectations before Peter King's final day at one of Australia's oldest financial institutions.