(31 October 2006 – Australia) BankWest has appointed Stephen Ward as West Australian state manager for Corporate Banking.The bank said Ward would “lead and invigorate an aggressive growth strategy” for its WA Corporate Banking business.
Head of Corporate Banking Bob Beard said the bank had already demonstrated its strength in property and commercial banking in Western Australian and it planned to “take this success” to the corporate banking sector.
Ward was most recently with BNP Paribas as WA director following a long career with ANZ where he had senior leadership roles within Corporate and Institutional banking in both WA and Victoria.
“The new executive management team in Corporate Banking will focus on growth in 2006/07. We are well positioned to grow and we have recently begun a recruitment drive to grow our capabilities,” he said.
Ward said having a head office in WA was a strength for the bank.
“For Corporate and Business Banking, this is significant as our credit group is Western Australian based and this assists our clients as we have a firm understanding of the market – something important for such an isolated market, such as Western Australia,” Ward said.