The chairman of Westpac Banking Corporation, Lindsay Maxsted, on November 13 announced the retirement of Gail Kelly as the bank group CEO effective February 1 2015 and will be succeeded by Brian Hartzer.

Hartzer is currently chief executive of Australian Financial Services (AFS), responsible for the Westpac group's retail, business banking and wealth businesses, including Westpac Retail & Business Banking, St. George Banking Group and BT Financial Group.

He has more than 25 years' experience in financial services. Before joining Westpac in 2012, he was CEO of Royal Bank of Scotland's UK Retail, Wealth and Ulster Bank. Before that, he was a senior executive at ANZ, including CEO for Australia, covering the bank's domestic retail, commercial banking and wealth management businesses.

Kelly was appointed at Westpac as the time when the global financial crisis was unfolding and her leadership and dedication has seen Westpac emerge a stronger and better company. During her tenure, the value of the company has more than doubled, with market capitalization increasing from just under A$50 billion to around A$104 billion.

She was credited in driving the successful merger with St. George, which saw the group strengthen its position in retail banking and in wealth.

Meanwhile, under Hartzer's leadership, the AFS has delivered outstanding results, achieving compound earnings growth of 10% over three years, while reducing the division's cost to income ratio by almost two and a half percentage points.