By Scott Murdoch
SYDNEY, July 1 (Reuters) – Australian bank Westpac said on Wednesday that non-executive director Peter Nash would leave its board, citing his relationship with troubled auditor KPMG.
KPMG is embroiled in a scandal over whistleblower allegations it shared confidential company information with prospective private-sector clients to bid for auditing work.
Nash was a senior partner at KPMG until 2017 and served as its national chairman in Australia as well as holding positions on its global and regional boards. He joined Westpac’s board in 2018.
“With recent attention on Peter’s former roles and relationships at KPMG, he has decided now is the right time to retire from the board to limit any ongoing distraction for the company,” Westpac Chairman Steven Gregg said in a statement.
Nash was reelected to the Westpac board in December last year but about 40% of investors voted against him as he had also served as an ASX director during a period of much upheaval for the stock exchange.
Local media reported that in 2023 Nash sat in on pitch meetings of auditing firms looking to secure the bank’s contract. Westpac switched to KPMG from PwC.
Martin Sheppard, who last week resigned as KPMG chairman, told a parliamentary hearing in mid-June that Nash had stayed at his house during the pitching process as the pair were long-standing friends.
“The structure of Westpac’s audit tender process was robust. Peter declared his past connections with KPMG and was not on the selection committee,” Gregg said.
“However he acknowledges the perception of bias that may have been created by his relationships.”
Nash said in the statement that Westpac had “changed significantly” during his time on the board and was well placed for the future. He did not make mention of KPMG in the statement.
(Reporting by Scott Murdoch in Sydney and Nikita Maria Jino in Bengaluru; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
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