(24 November 2025 – Australia) Commonwealth Bank CIO Gavin Munroe is departing Australia’s largest lender after three years overseeing its artificial intelligence (AI) development and core systems cloud integration as a new Chief AI Officer is announced.
After multiple senior executives were poached by other banks, CBA has poached new talent itself by luring Lloyds Data and Analytics Executive Ranil Boteju from the United Kingdom to become its first Chief AI Officer, commencing in the role in early 2026.
CBA’s Chief Data and Analytics Officer, Andrew McMullan, departed for Westpac in September.
Mr Munroe, who CBA CEO Matt Comyn hired from HSBC, is expected to consider new roles overseas after spending time this year in the United States after CBA opened an office in Seattle to deepen relationships with key suppliers Microsoft and AWS. Under Munroe, CBA has become an AI leader with multiple partnerships such as OpenAI, enabling GenAI to support “security champions”, releasing new AI capability in call centres to improve customer service and to bankers to help them assess loans albeit admitting it cannot rely solely on agentic AI for customer service.
CIO responsibilities now revert to CBA Group CTO Rodrigo Castillo and Retail Bank CIO Victoria Ledda.
Ranil Boteju will join CBA’s technology leadership team and report to Castillo. CBA’s GM of AI and Advanced Analytics Richard Nesbitt is the current Acting Chief AI Officer.
“CBA is focused on bringing together world-class talent, technology and partnerships that help us deliver on our strategy of building tomorrow’s bank today. As we scale to deliver even greater value from AI for our customers and our people, Ranil’s global leadership in harnessing AI and data will be instrumental. The hiring of Boteju reflects our continued focus on advancing responsible and customer-focused AI” commented CBA CEO Matt Comyn in a statement.
At the CBA AGM, Chairman Paul O’Malley said Comyn would remain in the top job for at least another three years, which will result in his tenure extending to more than a decade.