BANKWEST may not have a replacement for Terry Budge this financial year, as the bank’s offshore owner restructures its local operations for a major thrust into the national financial services market under the HBOS Australia banner.
First and foremost, the new HBOS Australia will need a leader, something BankWest chairman Ian Mackenzie believes is still at least a month away.
That newcomer, who will need to spend a lot of time traversing the country between Sydney and Perth, would then need to approve any new head of BankWest, an important position within the group because the bank represents the biggest component of HBOS Australia.
Mr Mackenzie said a replacement for Mr Budge could come from either inside or beyond BankWest’s current executive. He would not confirm speculation that BankWest general manager finance and corporate services Tony Iannello was the frontrunner for the job and would only say he was “one of the very capable people in the bank”.
Others in the executive team are: chief executive of BankWest consumer solutions, Chris Whitehead; general manager risk management and current acting managing director, Rodger McArthur; CIO Joe Deragon; and BankWest Business Solutions chief executive Jack Dykes, whose other brief as the head of HBOS Group’s corporate and commercial business in Australia, places a significant part of his role outside BankWest.
HBOS Australia will include BankWest, St Andrews Insurance (which emcompasses wealth management since BankWest split with Plan B), finance company Capital Finance Australia and corporate banking business BOS International Australia.