Former National Australia Bank (NAB) executive Jonathan Ayres has been hired to accelerate the growth of Bank of Melbourne's wealth business.
BT Financial Group (BTFG) Private Wealth general manager Jane Watts said Ayers' role was "to turbo-charge the current business" as there were opportunities to grow its wealth business to another level, in addition to the banking services already provided, by using his extensive wealth background.
"We sought him out [due to] his talent and as someone who would be a great fit culturally with the Bank of Melbourne brand. He's born and bred in Melbourne and really understands the local market well," Watts said.
"He is certainly up to the task and very excited by the opportunities that the Bank of Melbourne represents in the Victorian market, because our research shows that 47 per cent of high net worth individuals in Australia prefer an alternative brand to the big four."
Ayres joins Bank of Melbourne from NAB, where he spent more than 10 years in senior roles, including head of financial planning for NAB Private, and more recently as a senior investment specialist with NABInvest.
BTFG chief executive Brad Cooper and Bank of Melbourne chief executive Scott Tanner were both involved in Ayres' appointment, Watts said.
Ayres would report to Watts and manage a small team, she said.
"He'll be working very closely with Scott Tanner but also [the] Bank of Melbourne team overall. But his brief is to grow [the business] exponentially," she said.
She said further appointments were certain at Bank of Melbourne Private within the next 12 months.
"We are looking to grow the business, so once Jonathan has got his feet under the table, we'll certainly be looking to grow the team. That is certainly our plan. We've got a strong focus on growing our footprint in Victoria from a high net worth client perspective," she said.
"We have both Westpac Private Bank and Bank of Melbourne Private catering to different clients' needs in Victoria and we're very confident that those two brands [can] cater very capably to their high net worth segment needs."
BTFG's Private Wealth segment essentially shared infrastructure and economies of scale where appropriate, she said.
"But once again, the brands are very distinctive and they play to different client markets. The cross-over is very much around the support infrastructure that we provide," she said.
Bank of Melbourne was opened on 25 July and Victorian St George Private clients became clients of the new Bank of Melbourne Private brand. Private Wealth operates as its own unit within BTFG.
