ANZ Bank appoints Anne Weatherston as Chief Information Officer

The only female CIO of a Australia’s big four has recently finished the lender’s technology blueprint.

Just a week after speaking at a CEDA event to stress the importance of technology to the success of banks in the current economic climate, ANZ Bank chief information officer Anne Weatherston has been stripped of her direct reporting link to the bank’s CEO Mike Smith.

When Ms Weatherston’s appointment was first announced in late 2009 the bank trumpeted the fact that she would be a direct report to Mr Smith. This morning however the bank announced that it had installed above her Alistair Currie, as group chief operating officer. Mr Currie was formerly managing director of transaction banking in the institutional arm of ANZ,

Mr Currie has been given responsibility for technology, shared services and operations including ANZ’s Bangalore, Manila and Chengdu hubs, property and major projects. Ms Weatherston will now report to Mr Currie.

This is out of kilter with much modern management thinking which recommends that in technology-dependent organisations a direct reporting link is maintained between the CEO and CIO roles. That is certainly the case at rival banks Commonwealth Bank and Westpac, where CIOs Michael Harte and Bob McKinnon report respectively to CEOs Ralph Norris and Gail Kelly.

The situation at NAB is slightly different. There Adam Bennett is NAB’s CIO while Christine Bartlett is executive programme director in charge of the bank’s NextGen banking modernisation programme. They both report to Gavin Slater who then reports to CEO Cameron Clyne.

View the full story in IT Wire.