National Australia Bank on Thursday said it would replace its chief executive only days after the country’s second-largest bank by market value warned of fresh provisions of A$830m (US$782m) against its investments in collateralised debt obligations.

Reports that John Stewart was about to be replaced by Cameron Clyne, the 40-year-old head of NAB’s Bank of New Zealand, had surfaced on Tuesday. However, NAB refused to confirm the speculation at the time, claiming that if such a decision had already been made, it would need to make a stock exchange announcement.