A new finance chief is likely to be announced in the second half of this year, CNBC said.

Shanks was named the automaker's chief financial officer in April 2012. Ford did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Shanks, who joined Ford in 1977, has also been the CFO at Mazda Motor Corp.

The No.2 U.S. automaker is restructuring operations globally, including cutting thousands of jobs and looking at plant closures in Europe as part of its plan to return to profit in the region.

(Reporting by Rama Venkat and Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru)