A SUDDEN late-night resignation of a top executive at a major bank is always bound to stir up interest.
Last week the chief executive of Westpac-controlled BT Investment Management, Dirk Morris, handed in his resignation to the board of the funds manager that was partially spun off from the bank nearly two years ago.
Morris' resignation was announced shortly before the Australian Securities Exchange's end-of-day deadline of 7.30pm, more typical of a small company looking to minimise attention.
At this time of the day markets were already well closed, most traders had packed for the day and few were likely to notice the next morning.
The resignation coincided with Morris presenting a strategic plan to the BT Investment Management's board.
Central to the plan was a commitment from the chief executive of at least three to five years — and this something that Mr Morris was not in a position to offer.
"I have decided that now is an appropriate time for both the company, and for me personally, to signal my intention to leave," he said in a statement released during the week.
One rival banker said the late timing smacked of "a decision that had been made fairly quickly", adding very few CEOs wrote themselves out their own strategic plans.
BT Investment Management — the vehicle that houses the fund managers — listed nearly two years ago. The float, at the time valued at $300 million, was designed to retain key staff by providing mechanism to issue equity in the funds business.
Westpac retained a 60 per cent stake in the business that provided investment services for Westpac's wholly owned BT Financial funds arm.
Since the resignation, rival fund managers have begun to question whether internal tension is starting to build as St George's Asgard wealth business begins to be integrated into the broader BT Funds Management arm.
However, this appears to be at odds with the immediate benefits likely to be delivered to BT Investment Management from the merger, given the improved distribution footprint of Asgard's platform.
With revenue down, the profit-sharing pool for Morris and his key fund managers will be lower over the next 12 to 18 months, but this wouldn't be enough to encourage an exit given share incentives issued to BT Investment Management executives during the float are likely to be well in the money over the medium term.
Other talk has focused on potential friction between executives of BT Investment Management and Westpac's broader wealth business.
While Mr Morris has declined to comment further, a spokeswoman downplayed the timing of the announcement. The late notice was "unfortunate" but there were delays in finalising details given Mr Morris had first wanted to address his staff, the spokeswoman said.
She rejected suggestions of tensions, reiterating Mr Morris felt the timing was right given the funds arm was entering a new phase.
The exit of Mr Morris came just a week following Phil Chronican, the well-regarded head of Westpac's institutional bank and one time chief financial officer, also flagging his exit from the bank.
While Chronican featured as one of the key players involved in transforming Westpac into a low-risk bank under previous chief executive David Morgan, few read too much into his departure given in late 2007 he had been passed over for the chief executive role for Gail Kelly, a highly experienced retail banker.
Like most fund managers, BT Investment Management had been sideswiped by the global financial meltdown. Funds under management have fallen just over 21 per cent over the past year to around $31.5 billion as share prices and asset values have slumped.
The losses in funds under management is slightly more than Commonwealth Bank owned Colonial, but not as much National Australia Bank's MLC arm or Macquarie Group's funds unit.
At a presentation to a Deutsche Bank investment conference late last month, Mr Morris outlined BT Investment Management's strategy for the year. Here he highlighted the importance of attracting investment managers and keeping his existing team stable.
While he was cautious on the near-term outlook warning second half revenue was likely to be lower, he said near-term risks remained.
The departures have also switched the focus on back to Kelly and the make-up of her executive ranks. However, compared to top level changes at ANZ or National Australia Bank, Kelly has only made modest changes at Westpac.
The only other high-profile executive to leave has been former consumer banking boss Mike Pratt, although his exit occurred in the period before Kelly took charge.
Outside of long-time St George trouble shooter Peter Clare, unlike most new CEO's she has resisted moving her former colleagues into senior executive roles.
Instead Kelly has kept the Westpac executives nurtured under Morgan who can also take the credit from steering the bank away from bad lending decisions that are now hurting rivals.
These executives include former New Zealand boss Brad Cooper who is now overseeing the merger, retail banking boss Peter Hanlon and group risk officer Rob Whitfield.
At the same time she has recruited outsiders, bringing in former National Australia Bank business banker George Frazis.
Still, all these changes were made known during daylight hours.
