ANZ appoints new CIO
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) announced today that it had selected a CIO to replace Peter Dalton who left that position last year.
The new CIO, Anne Weatherston, has been the CIO for the Bank of Ireland for the past four years where she led a transformation of the bank's IT structure, ANZ said. Prior to that, she was the information technology director at another bank Abbey/Santander. She has also held IT positions at Gaz de France, the National Australia Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland, according to ANZ.
She will join ANZ early next year. Reporting to chief executive Mike Smith directly, she will be one of the 12 members on the ANZ management board.
In a video interview carried out by recruiter Harvey Nash earlier this year, Weatherston said that her biggest single challenge as the CIO of Bank of Ireland had been to "maintain service while reducing cost, specifically to maintain a position where IT is seen as not purely a cost base, but also a function that enables strategic change".
"You have to have a track record of fixing the basics, then once you've persuaded people of your added value, then really engage with people in how you can use technology to help people achieve their objectives," she said.
Smith was pleased. "This appointment highlights the significant attention ANZ is placing on its systems and technology, including simplifying our approach to technology architecture and delivering global IT platforms and capabilities," he said in a statement.
The bank has increased its spend on IT in recent times to pay for IT projects such as an upgrade to PeopleSoft's general ledger and human resources system.
In the video interview, Weatherston said she believed it was important for the financial services to get ahead on technology. "The market never sleeps... Technology will differentiate those companies that come out at the far end," she said.
It has taken ANZ a long time to replace its last CIO, Peter Dalton, who was moved out of the role late last year. He is now the general manager innovation.
David Cartwright, who along with Kieran Griffiths had been carrying out the role of acting chief information officer, will still head up ANZ's operations and shared services, which includes the technology office in Bangalore, India. Next year, ANZ's core support division — Operations, Technology and Shared Services — will be split into two separate divisions.