Published on the 12/03/2014 | Written by Newsdesk
Westpac New Zealand has disestablished the COO role in favour of elevating the CIO role to the executive team…
The bank has dissolved the role of chief operating officer, currently held by Jim Stabback, instead choosing to create a combined CIO and COO executive role. This will see the CIO role, which until now has not occupied a place on the executive team, elevated in importance within Westpac’s management structure, while taking on additional operating responsibilities.
In a press statement a spokesperson for Westpac explained the reason for the change. “As customers continue to migrate to digital channels, Westpac is increasing the focus on its technology offering as it aspires to be the leading bank in providing digital solutions to their customers.
“This is a key priority and the reason why a new executive level role of chief information officer has been created.”
The Westpac spokesperson confirmed that the current chief operating office, Jim Stabback, has agreed to stay on for a period of time to assist with the transition. They declined to comment on how the changes would affect the current non-executive role of CIO, held by Peter Fletcher.
An executive search is underway for the permanent role of CIO, however, no timeframe has been indicated.
The move is consistent with other indications that the technology agenda is becoming increasingly important within organisations. Last September Forrester Research reported that CIOs are losing grip of the enterprise IT budget as operations roles took up the slack, demonstrating that IT is a now a core business concern.
Meanwhile, the rise of the chief digital officer is a significant trend amongst Australian businesses.
Interestingly in the case of Westpac, the choice has been to preserve the technology-related title while abolishing the operations title for the new role.
