Queensland-based challenger bank Auswide has appointed Doug Snell, an ex-CBA alum, as its new managing director and chief executive officer.
Snell, whose financial services career spans 25 years, currently serves as chief executive of StockCo, a livestock-specialist finance provider – a role he has held for the last three and a half years.
He was recognised by Auswide for his “instrumental” role in “reinvigorating” StockCo’s business strategy, “with a focus on increasing profitability through funding and yield management while improving business process and operations”.
Prior to joining StockCo, Snell was general manager for corporate business banking at the Bank of Queensland (BoQ), and was previously acting group executive of BOQ’s business division, overseeing total assets of around $27 billion.
Before his eight-year run at BoQ, Snell spent eight years at CommBank, with his final role as GM for regional and agribusiness, covering Queensland and NT region. He was also head of global markets, Queensland for more than five years.
Auswide acknowledged Snell’s key role in delivering major digital transformation projects for BoQ, including the Financial Markets Digital platform for SME customers, which was delivered in 2020 and enables international payments and foreign exchange hedging, and the bank’s New Payments Platform (NPP) project.
Auswide chair Sandra Birkensleigh praised Snell as a “very strong, capable and inclusive leader with deep banking and financial services experience”.
Snell replaces Auswide’s longstanding chief executive Martin Barret, who announced his retirement from the bank in April this year.
Over his decade-long headship of the bank, Barett oversaw the regional Queensland bank’s transition from a building society to a publicly listed bank.
Barrett assumed the reins of Auswide, formerly Wide Bay Australia, in 2013.
