Westpac announces restructure of retail and business operations
(11 June 2015 – Australia) Westpac chief executive Brian Hartzer announced on 10 June it will split its retail and business banking operations to accelerate the Group’s customer-focused strategy.
The Australian banking giant said under the new structure, two new divisions are being created: a Consumer bank, to be led by George Frazis, responsible for all consumer banking products and services under the Westpac, St.George, BankSA, Bank of Melbourne and RAMS brands.
The second division will be a Commercial and Business Bank, responsible for serving small and medium enterprises, commercial and agri-business customers, as well as asset and equipment finance.
Specialist business bankers will continue to operate under their respective brands and the division will be led by David Lindberg.
Each division will be responsible for improving the end-to-end service experience of their respective customer segments and will have dedicated product, marketing and digital capabilities.
Hartzer said the simpler structure will clarify accountability and better align resources to customer segments, while maintaining the Group's unique family of brands.
"We recently set an ambition to be one of the world's great service companies, and this new structure will accelerate our progress towards this goal.
"By appointing a single Executive for each major segment, the new structure clarifies accountability and allows us to create simpler, consistent, end-to-end processes, such as creating one way to open a transaction account or approve a mortgage. This will help to deliver efficiencies.
"At the same time, the new structure enables us to drive product and digital innovation specific to the needs of our customer segments and brands.
"We are determined to preserve the strength of our unique family of brands while becoming more agile in meeting the needs of customers and adapting to changing market dynamics," Hartzer said.
George Frazis, who will head the Consumer division, is currently Group executive, St.George Banking Group, a position he has held since April 2012.
During the past three years, Frazis has invigorated the St.George franchise and delivered strong returns for the Group.
Frazis joined the Westpac Group in March 2009 as chief executive, Westpac New Zealand Limited.
David Lindberg, who will lead the Consumer and Business Bank, is currently chief product officer, responsible for the Group's retail and business product and digital banking offerings across all brands.
In this role, Lindberg has led the simplification of products and services, and has been responsible for the highly successful roll-out of Westpac Live.
As a result of the new management structure, Jason Yetton, Group executive, Westpac Retail & Business Banking is leaving Westpac to pursue other opportunities.
Hartzer said: "After more than 20 years with Westpac and BT, Jason Yetton is leaving the Group to pursue opportunities outside the organisation.
“I would like to thank Jason for his significant contribution over many years.
"Since taking up the leadership of Westpac Retail & Business Banking in 2011, Jason has delivered consistently strong financial results as well as making Westpac number one in customer satisfaction.”
The new structure will take effect immediately.
However, given the Group has operated under the previous structure for almost three quarters of the year, it will report its full year to 30 September 2015 financial results under the previous organisational structure.
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