BAT immediately appoints new chief to replace Jack Bowles

British American Tobacco chief executive Jack Bowles has stepped down with immediate effect, the company said on Monday.

Bowles has been replaced by Tadeu Marrocco, finance director at London-listed BAT, who has been with the maker of Lucky Strike and Dunhill cigarettes for three decades.

The world’s second-largest tobacco group provided few details on the sudden exit of Bowles, who has led the company since 2019. His departure comes after BAT paid a $635 million fine to US authorities last month, the largest settlement of its kind in the North. Korean sanctions violations related to business activities between 2007 and 2017.

Bowles, who served as head of the tobacco company’s Asia-Pacific division between 2013 and 2017, said at the time of the settlement that the cigarette maker “profoundly (regrets) misconduct stemmed from historical business practices”. Bowles, who has been at BAT for 20 years, has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

BAT admitted it violated US sanctions by supplying cigarettes worth approximately $30 million to North Korea’s Singapore embassy. It also admitted to processing more than $250 million worth of cash from approved North Korean banks through US financial institutions as payment for indirectly exporting cigarettes to the communist country.

Bowles said last month that BAT has “transformed” its compliance and ethics program, which oversees sanctions and anti-money laundering procedures, in recent years.

“Now is the time for a leadership transition to take the business to the next level,” the outgoing CEO said in a statement on Monday.

During his tenure, BAT sought to move new e-cigarettes and vaping products away from tobacco through brands such as Vuse.

BAT chairman Luke Jobin thanked Bowles for his “significant contribution” to the FTSE 100 group. In their statement, they said: “To fully deliver on our transformation in a rapidly changing environment, we must continue to evolve as a high-performing and agile consumer goods company.”

Marroco began his career at BAT in Brazil in 1992. He became the Finance Director in 2019. His previous roles included Group Transformation Director and Regional Director for Europe and North Africa.

His elevation to the top job comes as BAT faces some pressure from shareholders to move its primary listing to New York.