Westpac has appointed Macquarie Group executive Richard Heeley as chief information officer, with the technology leader set to oversee the bank’s next phase of digital transformation when he joins later this year.
Heeley, currently chief information officer for banking and financial services at Macquarie Group, will be responsible for Westpac’s technology infrastructure, cyber security and engineering functions.
He will work alongside the bank’s UNITE, Data, Digital and AI teams led by Peter Herbert and Andrew McMullan.
Heeley will replace outgoing chief information officer Scott Collary, who will retire later this year following an earlier announcement by the bank.
Westpac chief executive Anthony Miller said Heeley brought extensive experience leading large-scale technology change across retail banking.
“Richard is a proven technology leader who understands how to lead large-scale digital transformation in retail banking. He’s helped build and lead a successful digital bank and we look forward to welcoming him to Westpac,” Miller said.
Highlighting the new appointee’s experience modernising banking platforms, Miller said Heeley would play a central role in strengthening the bank’s technology capabilities.
“Richard has deep experience building and running critical platforms at scale, and he knows what it takes to simplify systems, improve resilience and deliver a first-class digital banking experience for customers.
“Richard will lead the next phase of Westpac’s technology transformation, building on recent progress to modernise core systems, lift resilience and strengthen the bank’s cyber and technology capabilities.”
Heeley has led technology for Macquarie’s Banking and Financial Services division since 2016, where he oversaw the end-to-end technology organisation across retail, business and wealth banking and played a central role in developing the group’s real-time, cloud-native banking platform.
Before joining Macquarie, he led a core banking transformation program at Nationwide Building Society in the United Kingdom and also held technology and program management roles at Barclays and JPMorgan Chase.
Commenting on his appointment, Heeley said his immediate focus would be enhancing the bank’s digital capabilities.
“Westpac has strong foundations and a clear plan to simplify and modernise the bank. My priority is taking an already great customer offering and making it the best digital banking experience in the market. I’m excited to be joining.”
