THE Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Bank yesterday announced the appointment of Heath Bruns as Country Head ANZ Solomon Islands, subject to regulatory approvals.
Reporting to Sarah Stubbings, ANZ Regional Executive for the Pacific, Mr Bruns will have responsibility for ANZ’s retail and commercial banking business in the Solomon Islands.
“The Pacific is a key part of ANZ’s international network, and Solomon Islands is one of our core Pacific markets. I look forward to working with Heath to build an even stronger business here,” Ms Stubbings said.
Mr Bruns has been the ANZ Head of Commercial Banking in Solomon Islands since March 2022, and has over 32 years’ experience with broad banking and finance exposure across International, Corporate, Commercial, Small to Medium Enterprise, Retail, Rural, People Management, Risk, Compliance and General banking.
Previously, he has worked in the private sector managing large, complex and sensitive government contracts, has worked for ANZ in Australia and Papua New Guinea, and held previous roles at Bank of Qld, NAB and Westpac.
Mr Bruns has been Acting Country Head since the start of June. He will continue Acting in the role until September when he will do a formal handover with current Country Head Martin Beattie.
“Heath has done a great job these last six weeks and I know he’ll go from strength to strength as he takes on the role permanently,” Ms Stubbings said.
“He has a solid understanding of our business and our customers on the ground and a proven ability for building relationships quickly with both internal and external stakeholders. He’s looking forward to continuing to be part of a region with such a strong purpose, people, customer and community orientation,” she added.
Subject to regulatory approval, Mr Bruns is expected to commence in the role on 1 October.
