ANZ's tech chief Gerard Florian to take on expanded role

ANZ's group executive of technology Gerard Florian is taking on an expanded remit that covers the establishment of shared business services across the bank.

Florian’s new title is group executive technology and group services.

"He will be responsible for the design and governance of ANZ’s enterprise-wide business services," ANZ said in a statement.

"For now, these include payments, retail and wholesale credit and ‘Know your customer’ (KYC) processes."

Florian has already been leading efforts to reshape ANZ's technology organisation into a kind of service provider to the broader ANZ business.

ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott told iTnewsthe bank saw "significant opportunity to share core platforms and services like payments, wholesale credit and KYC.”

“We call these internal business services," he said.

"We want to run them like internal commercial enterprises that service our four banking divisions.

“Some, like payments, are already there but we want to make it a more common way to operate and run the bank.”

Elliott said to do that, “we need a leader to design the operating model, set the way to run them and get started.”

“I have asked Gerard to do that because he is passionate about it, has the skills, and most of it is about deploying tech more effectively," Elliott said.

Transformation reshuffle

In addition to Florian's elevated role, ANZ's longtime head of strategy Antony Strong was yesterday brought into the executive committee, with the expanded title and remit of group executive strategy and transformation.

Strong will now coordinate and drive the ongoing transformation of ANZ.

“This includes driving further productivity across the group, delivering enterprise-wide benefits from cloud migration and enterprise business services as well as having responsibility for delivering customer benefits from ANZ’s 1835i investment portfolio," ANZ said.

“As we enter a new phase of development and growth, it makes sense to elevate the role of strategy and transformation within the bank, and there is an even greater need for a coordinated approach to shared business services available to all divisions within the bank,” ANZ's CEO Shayne Elliott said.

“We also need to allocate resourcing and make hard prioritisation decisions more effectively – where we invest, what we share, what we stop.

“[Strong] is passionate about this and has the skills to do it. He’s been at the bank for around 15 years, he knows it well and has an enterprise view.”

At the bank's half-year results in May, the bank revealed its intention to move its innovation and investment arm, 1835i so the team could focus on acquiring and building new technology and non-bank services for ANZ customers.

Resourcing refocus

Elliott told iTnews the changes are about “refocusing our resourcing and leadership, not about starting new things.”

“After years of simplifying and strengthening the bank and focusing on core businesses, we now have four great businesses - each set with a clear strategy, and a roadmap to build contemporary relevant propositions for customers," he said.

Elliott added ANZ “don’t need new people in the team” but rather “knowledgeable capable executives who know the place well, who are respected by their peers, and have a track record of getting things done."

The changes are set to take effect on the first of November, and both roles will still report to Elliott.