BankWest’s new managing director says the bank aims to be fully integrated with its parent company HBOS Australia by the fourth quarter of this year.
The bank announced this week that Rodger McArthur has been appointed managing director, having acted in the role since the retirement of Terry Budge.
Mr McArthur’s role will be very different to that of his predecessor, however.
A major focus of his work will be providing support functions, such as technology, procurement and risk management, for HBOS Australia’s group-wide operations.
Mr McArthur has been filling this role since May when he was appointed chief executive group functions for HBOS Australia.
His dual titles reflect HBOS’s strategy of integrating its four Australian businesses, which include niche insurer St Andrew’s, leasing firm Capital Finance and corporate banking firm BOS International (Australia).
“We are currently planning and very keen to get our businesses integrated,” Mr McArthur told WA Business News.
He said the group aimed to deliver greater access to a wider product range and greater expertise to its customers.
St Andrew’s has already been charged with the task of developing the bank’s financial services operations, in areas such as insurance and financial planning.
Mr McArthur said it was likely that the bank would draw on Capital Finance’s expertise in the leasing market.
He added that the group was currently assessing its treasury operations, which are split between the BOSIAL treasury in Sydney and the BankWest treasury in Perth.
Mr McArthur said an important next step in the integration would be the appointment of a board of directors for HBOS Australia, which is due to happen soon.
HBOS already has a group-wide executive committee, including Mr McArthur, recently appointed HBOS chief executive David Willis, corporate banking chief executive Jack Dykes, who also runs BOSIAL, consumer banking chief executive Chris Whitehead, St Andrew’s chief executive John van der Wielen and Capital Finance chief executive Derek Taylor.
As well as the HBOS board, BankWest will continue to have its own board of directors.
The integration follows HBOS’s move to 100 per cent ownership of BankWest last year.
Mr McArthur is a career banker, having joined Bank of Scotland (now part of HBOS plc) as a teenager in 1966.
He joined BankWest in June 2002 as general manager risk management and deputy group managing director.
