Ellis becomes first female chief economist at a big four bank

afr.com:

The Reserve Bank will consider hiring an outsider after Westpac poached assistant governor Luci Ellis to succeed veteran chief economist Bill Evans, making her the first female chief economist at a big four bank.

Mr Evans will move to the new role of senior economic adviser from January. Mr Evans said this would “enhance the counsel” he gave the bank’s executives and its clients.

Luci Ellis will succeed Bill Evans as chief economist. Natalie Boog

He has held the chief economist title since 1991, steering Westpac’s forecasts through a recession, the global financial crisis, a trade war, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr Evans’ most notable call was in 2011, when he was the first economist to predict the RBA’s easing cycle.

He agreed it was his best forecast.

“Myself and my team said that we thought rates would actually fall by 100 basis points,” he said on Monday. “And that’s what happened. It was a fairly interesting time; consensus said that they [interest rates] were actually going higher.”

Mr Evans will hand over the reins at an “extraordinarily difficult time for reading what is happening in the global economy”. The bank needed “generational change and the candidate fits that perfectly”.

“Luci is among a handful of the most qualified economists in the country,” he said.

Dr Ellis’ resignation is also the first high-level vacancy at the RBA since the release of an independent review in April which was highly critical of the organisation’s insular culture and lack of external hires at senior levels.

The vacant assistant governor role will be advertised internally and externally. Insiders filled each of the three assistant government vacancies over the past decade. While the RBA has a policy to advertise externally for roles