ANZ has recruited a former Google executive to its newly created role of group executive, digital banking, reporting directly to CEO Shayne Elliott.
Maile Carnegie joins ANZ from Google where she has been managing director Australia and New Zealand since 2013, following a 20-year career at proctor & Gamble.
The position has great strategic importance for ANZ's new chief Elliott, who has publicly declared that his legacy will be the digital transformation of the Australian bank. Reflecting this, Carnegie will also have shared responsibility for the financial results of the bank’s Australian and New Zealand Divisions.
Says Elliott: “Digital banking is at the heart of our strategy to create a superior experience for our customers and our people. Maile’s appointment recognises that digital is central to driving revenue growth and to successfully competing in a changing and disrupted environment where technology and brand are key sources of differentiation."
He says that part of Carnegie's role will be to shift the bank's thinking to champion a group-wide innovation culture with a view to developing and attracting "service-focused, technology-literate, innovative and experimental people and teams".
"This includes being the sponsor of a new Digital Business Transformation Leadership Program created jointly by ANZ and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology," he adds.
In an interview with the ANZ's BlueNotes news magazine, Carnegie says the bank needs to look to solutions from the tech sector to succeed in an increasingly digital market - but adds digital "transplants" don't work.
Carnegie will be based in Sydney and will commence with ANZ in July 2016.