Commonwealth Bank bolsters banking unit with tech exec

Commonwealth Bank chief executive officer Ian Narev has appointed Adam Bennett as the new group executive of business and private banking.

Replacing Grahame Petersen, who retires early next year, Bennett joined the bank initially as part of the Commonwealth Bank's group technology unit in 2004, and was the chief information officer for the retail banking and business banking divisions during the core modernisation project. Bennett then went on to join the private banking leadership team in 2009, and became the executive general manager of the local banking business in 2012.

Bennett will commence his new role on January 12, 2015. Petersen will remain on some group subsidiary boards following his retirement.

Narev said Bennett's experience and knowledge in technology will help deliver growth and improvement to the company's business and private banking unit, which remains a priority for the bank.

"Grahame has made a significant contribution to the bank over 35 years, the last 10 on the group's Executive Committee. His legacy is an ongoing drive to improve customer focus and culture. Under his leadership, the business and private bank has continued to grow and improve customer satisfaction levels," he said.

"Adam will build upon this momentum by increasing the rate of delivering innovative customer solutions, made possible by the group's continuing investment in technology."

Bennett is one of the latest internal candidates appointed to an executive role. Earlier this year, David Whiteing was appointed to the chief information officer role in replacement of Michael Harte, who left the company to join Barclays in London.