Westpac Banking Corp.’s Bill Evans will shift from chief economist after more than 30 years in the role and be replaced by Reserve Bank Assistant Governor Luci Ellis.
The RBA confirmed Ellis’s departure and Westpac said she will take up her new role on Oct. 9. Ellis oversaw economic forecasting at the central bank and was Governor Philip Lowe’s chief economic adviser.
Ellis told Bloomberg Monday that having been at the RBA for 32 years, replacing Bill was “an opportunity I simply couldn’t pass up.”
Marion Kohler will act in Ellis’s position as assistant governor responsible for economics and the role will be advertised both internally and externally.
Evans, who joined Westpac at the height of the 1991 recession, has been one of Australia’s pre-eminent economists, particularly when it comes to picking turning points in RBA policy cycles.
Westpac Chief Executive Officer Peter King said in a statement Evans has defined the role of a major bank chief economist in Australia. Evans will remain with the bank as a senior economic adviser from January 2024.
The announcement comes as Treasurer Jim Chalmers is due to decide on the next governor of the RBA, with Lowe’s term due to expire in mid-September.
(Adds Marion Kohler to act as assistant governor in interim.)
