National Australia Bank finance chief Nathan Goonan will exit to join Westpac

By Adwitiya Srivastava and Rishav Chatterjee

(Reuters) -National Australia Bank ( NAUBF ) Chief Financial Officer Nathan Goonan will leave the lender later this year to join rival Westpac, the Australian banks said in separate statements on Monday.

NAB announced the exit of its finance chief along with a number of other senior executive changes, after which Westpac disclosed Goonan's appointment in the same role effective later this year.

Goonan became the chief financial officer of National Australia Bank ( NAUBF ) in July 2023 and previously served as executive general manager of group strategy and development.

NAB's share price has jumped about 26% from July 1, 2023 through the stock's last close on Friday under Goonan's tenure as its finance chief.

Westpac said its current chief financial officer, Michael Rowland, will remain in his role until Goonan joins the bank.

Shares of Westpac were up 0.7%, while those of NAB fell about 0.4% as of 0005 GMT.

The transition follows a series of management changes at the banks over the last year.

In December, Roland announced plans to retire in 2025, while NAB last month named Andrew Irvine, the head of its business and private banking as its new CEO.

Westpac in September promoted the head of its business and wealth unit, Anthony Miller, to CEO.

Henry Jennings, a senior analyst and portfolio manager at Marcus Today said: "New (NAB) CEO Andrew Irvine was always likely to bring some changes."

He added that because of a new CEO at Westpac as well, this was likely a shuffling of the decks.

Shaun Dooley, who is currently NAB's group chief risk officer, will act as group chief financial officer while the lender recruits a replacement for Goonan, NAB said in its statement.

(Reporting by Adwitiya Srivastava and Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Jamie Freed)