As Matt Comyn prepares to assume his post as chief executive officer of Commonwealth Bank (CBA) from next week, the end of outgoing CEO Ian Narev’s tenure has also signalled the end of the road for CIO and group executive enterprise services David Whiteing.
Whiteing, who was appointed to his current role in July 2014 following the departure of Michael Harte, will step down in April.
“Leadership transitions are inevitably a time of change in senior teams, as executives reassess their own plans, and the Bank prepares for its future. Today we are announcing the departure of three high calibre executives who have contributed significantly to CBA,” Narev said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.
Melanie Laing, group executive human resources, and Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, group executive institutional banking and markets, will also leave CBA in the coming months.
Whiteing said CBA had made significant progress during his tenure in using its technology and operations capability to better meet customer needs, and that he was “particularly proud” of its work in accelerating decision-making and delivery.
On Whiteing’s contribution, Narev said, “David has been a leader within the CBA for changing the way in which business teams and IT teams work together to deliver better experiences for customers. Over the past two years in particular, innovation has been combined with a significant reduction in downtime, despite increasing volumes.
“We thank David for his role in enhancing CBA’s technology advantage. We have also benefited from his contributions to our Executive Committee’s efforts to build a more innovative culture across CBA.”
In recent months, the bank has been beset by controversy, coming under scrutiny at the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, and as the subject of legal action by AUSTRAC in relation to alleged breaches of the anti-money laundering regime. Most recently, this week a system outage affected customer access to BPAY, credit cards and loan services for more than 24 hours.
Paul Newham, who is currently executive general manager group operations, will oversee the enterprise services division in an acting capacity, while a global search is undertaken for a replacement for Whiteing.
