CIO exits as ANZ creates group executive technology role

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has announced its chief information officer Scott Collary will be exiting the bank later this month.

As part of the change, ANZ has also announced the appointment of Gerard Florian as group executive technology, who will report directly to CEO Shayne Elliott.

Previously, Florian was the chief strategy officer for Dimension Data's global Cloud Business Unit, taking up the role after performing both chief technology officer and chief marketing officer roles at the global tech giant's Australian division.

At ANZ, Florian will be charged with the responsibility of defining the bank's technology strategy and building and managing its technology infrastructure, which includes the development of new technologies to support improved customer outcomes and business revenues, implementing existing technologies to further strategic goals, and the creation of systems and processes to make optimum use of current technology resources, Elliott said Monday.

In September, ANZ announced a reshuffle of its tech execs after its COO Alistair Currie announced his departure, slated for later this year.

Deputy CEO Graham Hodges will take on Group Hubs, Enterprise Services, and Group Property responsibilities; COO for Enterprise Services Craig Sims will take on the role of group general manager of Operations and Services; and general manager for Transformation Projects Nigel Dobson will be appointed to Wholesale Digital Strategy and Payments Transformation, and report to group executive of Digital Banking Maile Carnegie, who joined the bank from heading up Google Australia earlier this year.

An ANZ spokesperson confirmed with ZDNet on Thursday that its chief technology officer Patrick Maes also left the organisation.

The bank's new structure will help it to continue its technology progress, Elliott said at the time, adding that under the former COO, ANZ had "significantly improved" the quality of service and undergone a "digital transformation".

"Gerard's appointment together with the appointment of Maile Carnegie as group executive digital banking earlier this year, highlights the critical importance of technology to transforming ANZ to compete effectively in the digital age," Elliott said in a statement on Monday.

"Increasingly technology is redefining our business and our relationship with customers. Gerard's leadership skills and his background in technology including cloud computing make him ideally suited to oversee the strategic shift that we need to make."

Last week, ANZ released its 2016 financial results, posting AU$5.7 billion in statutory net profit, representing a 24 percent tumble year-on-year.

The bank attributed the profit dive to, amongst other things, its current focus on competing in the "digital age".