By Scott Murdoch and Sneha Kumar
July 23 (Reuters) – Australia’s top investment bank Macquarie Group said on Thursday Chief Executive Shemara Wikramanayake will retire this year and be replaced by Greg Ward, one of the bank’s longest-serving executives.
Wikramanayake, 64, will leave on November 6, the bank said.
In her nearly eight years at the helm, Wikramanayake reshaped Macquarie to focus on asset management and infrastructure investment to make it less reliant on volatile investment banking fees, and its shares more than doubled in value.
“Over her last eight years as CEO, and for almost four decades with the company, Shemara has steered Macquarie through expansion into new markets, the dislocation of the COVID pandemic, and significantly enhanced recognition of our brand and the value we bring to global clients and communities,” said Chair Glenn Stevens.
Wikramanayake is one of Australia’s best paid company bosses and most high profile female chief executives.
She was paid A$26.5 million in 2025, reinforcing Macquarie’s reputation in Australia as the “Millionaire’s Factory” as the bank’s remuneration policy is closely aligned to executive performance.
Macquarie did not release details of Ward’s pay package as CEO on Thursday.
Macquarie’s shares have climbed from A$124.93 in mid-2018 when her appointment was announced to A$254.93 as of last close, outperforming a more than 40% rise in the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index over the same period.
Ward, 58, is a 30-year veteran of Macquarie and was the bank’s chief financial officer during the global financial crisis.
He most recently headed up Macquarie’s retail banking business which has made a concerted push to erode the market share of Australia’s big four banks in mortgages and retail deposits.
Macquarie is now Australia’s fifth largest mortgage lender, and analysts have forecast it could break into the top four in the next few years.
In a first quarter trading update released on Thursday, Macquarie said its Commodities and Global Markets division’s net profit contribution had grown substantially, driven by increased income from commodities trading.
The bank does not release quarterly profit figures. Macquarie will hold its annual general meeting in Sydney on Thursday.
(Reporting by Scott Murdoch in Sydney and Sneha Kumar, Nikita Maria Jino and Shivangi Lahiri in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Sonali Paul)
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