Shemara Wikramanayake is retiring as chief executive of Macquarie Group in November after eight years at the top and almost four decades with the company.
The banking group’s chairman Glenn Stevens, a former Reserve Bank of Australia governor, announced on Thursday morning that Greg Ward, the head of banking and financial services, would replace her – breaking the news ahead of its annual general meeting in Sydney.
Ms Wikramanayake, who joined Macquarie in 1987 and in 2018 became the first woman to lead it, is retiring from the boards of both Macquarie Group Limited and Macquarie Bank Limited on November 6.
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“The great privilege of this role lies in empowering Macquarie’s talented team to perpetuate our culture of identifying opportunities and taking accountability for delivering on them to drive sustainable, positive outcomes for our stakeholders,” she said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
Mr Ward joined Macquarie Group in 1996 in the same year it listed on the share market, serving as global chief financial officer for 14 years before becoming deputy managing director of Macquarie Group.
He became head of banking and financial services in 2013.
“I’m honoured to be asked by the board to succeed Shemara as Macquarie CEO,” he said.
“Shemara leaves Macquarie incredibly well positioned, with each of our businesses performing strongly.”
Macquarie Group delivered a profit of $4.8 billion in 2025-26, up 30 per cent from the previous financial year.
