“To sharpen our focus, we are appointing dedicated Group Executives responsible for Consumer banking and Business banking,” said Mr King.

“Over the past few years we’ve simplified the bank, including exiting nine businesses. As a result, we no longer need a Specialist Businesses Division.”

“We are also establishing a stand-alone function to accelerate our Technology simplification and will move Operations to Corporate Services, creating an expanded shared services team.”

Leadership Changes:

• Jason Yetton, Chief Executive, Consumer
• Anthony Miller, Chief Executive, Business & Wealth
• Nell Hutton, Chief Executive, Westpac Institutional Bank
• Scott Collary, Chief Information Officer
• Carolyn McCann, Group Executive Customer & Corporate Services

With the separation of Consumer & Business Banking, Chris de Bruin, current Chief Executive, Consumer & Business Banking has decided to leave the Group to pursue new opportunities.

“I want to thank Chris for his contribution to the bank. In particular, he’s led the digitisation of the Consumer bank, including the delivery of major initiatives such as the digital mortgage and payment solutions. He’s also driven our branch co-location strategy and strengthened the franchise. Chris will assist with the transition to the new structure,” Mr King said.

“The new structure will give the leadership team a greater focus on growing their businesses and delivering for customers.

“Jason has a 30-year history with the Group. His breadth of expertise stretches across all facets of banking, including time running Westpac’s retail and business banking division from 2011 to 2015. Jason has also led our portfolio simplification since 2020.

“Since joining three years ago, Anthony has grown our institutional business while improving return. He is a seasoned banker, having held executive and client facing roles at some of the world’s leading banks. Anthony is well-placed to drive growth in Westpac business banking.”

Mr King said he was pleased to have someone of Ms Hutton’s calibre join the executive team.

“Nell is an outstanding leader, who has delivered a strong performance during her time leading Financial Markets and will continue to build the Institutional Bank.”

Mr King said the Group has a significant technology and customer agenda underway.

“Scott Collary will continue to spearhead our technology transformation with a focus on streamlining our tech systems across the Westpac Group, while Carolyn McCann will lead an expanded division for customer and corporate shared services, including operations, helping to leverage the benefits of scale.”

The organisation changes will take effect on 1st August 2023 and will be reflected in the 2024 financial results.

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Scott Collary

Westpac has announced an investment in New York-based conversational AI start-up Kasisto. The investment builds on an existing partnership established with Kasisto in 2020, which has bolstered the bank’s portfolio of AI-powered customer experience technology.

Westpac supports customers and employees using Kasisto’s KAI platform in its chatbots and intelligent digital assistants. The investment will enable Westpac to work even more closely with Kasisto to deliver what will create the most value for customers and employees.

Scott Collary, Westpac Group Executive, Customer Services and Technology, says the partnership is making it easier for customers to do business with us.

“The cycles of innovation are getting faster, and so too are the needs and expectations of our customers who want quick, intuitive and personalised service.

“While we’ve made considerable progress upgrading our core systems and capabilities, staying close to new and emerging technologies and partnering with industry innovators is equally important for delivering our digital first strategy.

“Chatbots have traditionally been built with singular purposes and objectives, often making them clunky or confusing. But the technology powering intelligent digital assistants is rapidly maturing, and we recognise its potential to completely transform the service experience.

“Kasisto’s technology has enabled us to evolve from traditional chatbots into a sophisticated, human-like conversational experience, unified for the first time under a single AI orchestration platform. This means customer queries will be answered more efficiently with reduced wait times and fewer hand-offs,” Mr Collary said.

Zor Gorelov, CEO and Co-Founder of Kasisto, says “We are thrilled to have the support and investment of Westpac who are taking a leadership position in the advancement of artificial intelligence technologies in financial services.

“We share a common goal to deliver highly personalised and differentiated customer experiences through cutting-edge AI technology, and we look forward to accelerating our successful collaboration even further.”

Evolution of Westpac Group’s digital assistants:

• 2018: Introduced first digital assistant supporting employees with home loan questions.
• 2018: Launched customer-facing digital assistant ‘Red’ helping over 4.4 million customers to date.
• 2020: Launched first digital human ‘Wendy’ helping younger customers with career advice.
• 2020: Commenced partnership with Kasisto to improve suite of chatbots and intelligent assistants.
• 2021: Launched digital assistant ‘Blue’ helping advisors and direct investors using BT’s wealth management platform.
• 2022: Built a single orchestrating brain to centralise and handle all AI conversations with customers and employees.

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