ANZ’s former CEO Shayne Elliott drops legal action over A$13.5m bonus cut

Former ANZ Group chief executive Shayne Elliott was unhappy his bonus was docked. Photo / Dean Purcell

ANZ Group’s former chief executive Shayne Elliott has dropped the legal action he took against his former employer for cutting his bonuses.

In a release to the Australian Stock Exchange, ANZ said Elliott (who is a Kiwi) walked away from the matter without receiving a settlement from the bank.

It clarified it didn’t make any payments or commitments to Elliott, with both parties bearing their own costs.

In December, ANZ announced Elliott took the bank to the New South Wales Supreme Court in relation to his remuneration for the 2025 financial year.

Elliott was docked his short-term bonus and had to forfeit equity entitlements valued at A$13.49 million ($15.63m at the time).

The ANZ board made the decision after ANZ was fined A$250m for widespread misconduct and systemic risk failures affecting the Australian Government, taxpayers and at least 65,000 retail bank customers.

This was the largest combined penalty the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) had ever taken against an entity.

ANZ noted it was required to link executives’ pay to their performance and ensure their pay encouraged them to manage risks. And so, its board decided none of its Australian-based group executives would receive short-term variable remuneration.

The board also decided “some of the long-term variable remuneration due to vest to Mr Elliott would be adjusted downwards to zero for 2025 and 2026”.

ANZ chairman Paul O’Sullivan said the board had been “considered and very deliberate” in its assessment, was confident in its position and would “defend this matter vigorously”.

ANZ NZ chief executive Antonia Watson was one of the bank’s few bosses to get a short-term bonus last year.

Her total statutory remuneration was A$2.58m ($2.99m) in the year to September 2025, up from A$2.56m ($2.97m) in the prior year.

Jenée Tibshraeny is the Herald’s Wellington business editor, based in the parliamentary press gallery. She specialises in government and Reserve Bank policymaking, economics and banking.

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