ANZ has made a slew of leadership changes for its global institutional and APEA division, days after announcing an overhaul of its C-level ranks as part of the bank's radical new strategy.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group has made a slew of senior leadership changes for its global institutional and Asia-Pacific, Europe and America division, as part of the bank's strategy to enhance cross-border flows, coming days after an overhaul of its C-level ranks.

Gilles Plante becomes ANZ chief executive of Asia, based in Hong Kong. He was previously CEO of North East Asia, Europe and America, also based in Hong Kong.

Mark Robinson becomes CEO of Europe, America, Middle East and India, based in London. He was previously CEO of South and South East Asia, within the Asia-Pacific, Europe and America division based in Singapore.

Michael Rowland becomes CEO of the Pacific region, based in Melbourne. He previously held the same role in the APEA division. 

Former Hong Kong-based global head of capital markets Cathryn Carver gets moved to managing director of institutional Australia, based in Perth, focussing on the Western Australian economy.

Sameer Sawhney becomes managing director of institutional for Asia-Pacific Europe & America, based in Singapore. He was previously managing director of corporate and institutional banking and private banking for Asia. 

Christina Tonkin is appointed managing director of global loans and transaction banking, based in Sydney. She was previously managing director of global loans. 

All are reporting to divisional CEO Alex Thursby,  effective 1 March 2012.

“We have an ambitious objective to build the leading regional bank that delivers outstanding financial results by connecting our customers across borders and with end-to-end solutions,” said Thursby in a statement.

“Our new organisation structure and senior appointments will help provide a seamless cross-border proposition, connecting our customers with intra-regional trade and investment flows across Asia, the Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and North America,” he added.

The new appointments come on the heels of a management overhaul announced in conjunction with the bank’s first quarter results last week, reported here. The new appointments included marketing and strategy guru Joyce Phillips, who started as global head of wealth management and private banking, and Shayne Elliott, currently CEO of institutional, who will succeed ANZ veteran Peter Marriott as chief financial officer.

At the time CEO Mike Smith said the changes were due to “a major upheaval” in banking as a result of low credit growth, funding challenges and new regulation. “We need to be leaner and more innovative in this new and more difficult environment,” said Smith last week.

He added that the changes create a simpler structure for the business that will allow the bank to be more coordinated between strategy, finance and treasury.

He went on to underline the importance of the wealth business, which other banks like UBS and Standard Chartered have likewise highlighted as a target for growth. “Wealth represents a strategic opportunity for ANZ and by establishing it as a global line of business it creates a distinctive approach to unlocking further value from our super regional strategy.”

The bank has suffered a couple of senior departures from its wealth management business in recent weeks. Vineet Vohra, the Singapore-based general manager of wealth management at ANZ, stepped down earlier this month on the heels of his senior colleague Nina Aguas, the managing director of the Asia-Pacific private banking division. Aguas’ replacement is expected imminently.

The bank’s leadership changes come amid substantial job cuts, for which ANZ came under criticism. This month, it announced it would axe 1,000 permanent roles this year, the bulk of which will go from its Melbourne-based middle management, back office and support divisions. The Finance Sector Union argued that there was no justification for the redundancies at a time of profit for the bank, which is one of Australia's top four lenders. 

ANZ said the cuts were in response to "intense pressure on margins associated with higher funding costs, lower consumer and business demand for financial services and increasing global regulation."