Tier-two CIOs could slow banking innovation

The exclusion of chief information officers from the executive boards of three of Australia’s big four banks has raised innovation industry concerns about continued research in the financial services sector.

The direction of COO Alistair Currie in October

ANZ Bank’s CIO Anne Weatherston similarly came in accordance with the direction of COO Alistair Currie in October, during NAB’s CIO Adam Bennett has reported to group business services executive Gavin Slater since joining the bank in 2009.

The Commonwealth Bank has credited its billion-dollar core banking modernisation program for online banking improvements and new smartphone products like a property guide and contactless payments app, Kaching.

Meanwhile, Westpac has embarked on a program of 15 Strategic Investment Priorities to address legacy innovation issues, improve customer service, and introduce enterprise-wide services by 2014.

Earlier this year, McKinnon told a CEDA conference that the bank had no IT strategy to speak of when he joined, due to "years of chronic underinvestment" in innovation.

Prior to McKinnon’s arrival, Westpac’s IT was overseen by operations manager Trudy Vonhoff, who reported to Diane Sias, head of the business innovation solutions and services division.

Millett, a proponent of the utility and cloud computing models, acknowledged that IT shops need legal experts to look over contracts with their service providers.

Millett explained that businesses need IT leaders to worry about technology, applications development pipelines, the consistency of IT services, enterprise architecture, capital allocation and project governance.

Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, Commonwealth Bank’s executive general manager of business products and development, described the bank’s transformation project as a "continual work in progress".

Bayer Rosmarin, Invest-Ex consultant Steve Shipley and BT Financial Group’s head of innovation insurance Tom Higgins expected mobile connectivity and social media to drive at once year’s financial sector innovations.

"In some respects it feels like 1997 or '98 – just previously that last internet boom hit," Higgins said, predicting the rise of augmented reality and smartphone applications that made users’ lives simpler by combining various services like loyalty cards.

Financial services firms faced cost pressures, he said, and would likely seek to monetise mobile and social networking technology afterwards having invested "huge amounts" on IT.

Trend which encapsulates both mobility

"I think there’s going to be a trend which encapsulates both mobility and social networking however that trend will be monetisation of those services through the financial services channel. I don’t think there’s anyone that knows how to quite do that just but."