ANZ execs to review IT programs

ANZ chief executive officer Phil Chronican has today revealed that senior bank executives including Mike Smith and reclusive chief information officer Anne Weatherston are set to reassess the bank's IT plans by the end of the month.

Speaking to ZDNet Australia at an American Chamber of Commerce in Australia event today, Chronican said that there is in fact a lot of investment going into IT.

[IT] is a major focus. We've got a new CIO who's been on board for about a year. She and Mike [Smith] are talking in the next little while, end of June, about the IT plans. It's getting a lot of focus and it's about having a very deliberate investment program around it, so I don't think there's any lack of investment," he said.

Chronican's comments contradict a report published by The Australian IT that said the state of IT within ANZ Bank is indeed dire, with an internal review highlighting data reporting issues, low morale around technology and a sluggish attitude towards new technology procurement.

At the bank's half-yearly results briefing in May, Smith told ZDNet Australia that while the bank had spent a lot on IT, it hadn't spent it in the right places.

"We already believe we spend about the right amount on IT, we just haven't spent it in the right places. We spent an awful lot of money on getting very little intrinsic value from some of our systems," Smith said.

ANZ last month announced a record half-yearly profit of $2.66 billion.