ANZ announces restructure as COO steps down

Following the resignation of ANZ's chief operating officer, Alistair Currie, the bank will be implementing a series of executive and operational changes to "better support strategic priorities and allow us to build on the significant progress that has been made in recent years in Technology, Operations and Shared Services", ANZ said in a statement late last week.

Under the restructure, divisional chief operating officers will now report directly to the Australia, New Zealand, Institutional and Wealth businesses, providing greater end-to-end control of customer processes as well as driving the next phase of productivity gains, ANZ said.

The bank also announced that deputy chief executive Graham Hodges will assume responsibility for the Group Hubs, Enterprise Services and Group Property sectors, while Craig Sims has been appointed to the newly created role of group general manager for operations and services.

General manager, transformation projects, Nigel Dobson will assume control of the wholesale digital strategy and payments transformation sectors.

ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott said: "These changes to our operating model better support ANZ's strategic priorities and allow us to build on the significant progress that has been made in recent years in Technology, Operations and Shared Services.

"This progress highlights the importance of Alistair's contribution to ANZ. He … has built a strong regional team and an approach to technology and operations which has significantly improved service quality for customers as well as delivering consistent productivity gains,” Mr Elliott said.

"During this time Alistair also played a key role in setting the early direction for our digital transformation," he said