Newly anointed Bendigo and Adelaide Bank chief Richard Fennell has announced several changes to the group’s executive line-up, with Up chief Xavier Shay to lead the group’s digital services function.

Shay currently serves as chief executive of Bendigo’s neobanking subsidiary Up – a role he will retain in addition to his new title as chief digital officer (CDO) for the group – a testbed for many of Bendigo’s digital banking and lending services innovations.

As CDO, Shay will oversee the group’s digital capabilities and deployments, tasked, the bank said, with “driving greater penetration of our digital offerings across the Bendigo and Up brands”.

“Xavier’s experience in leading high-performing digital teams at Up and as director of payments engineering and analytics at Square will support the growth of the business and continue to improve returns for shareholders,” Bendigo wrote in a statement.

Shay joined Up in 2019 as a software engineer, quickly climbing the ranks to become head of the neobank in December of that year. He assumed the title of Up chief executive in the middle of 2021.

Prior to joining the Bendigo group, he held several senior engineering-focused roles during his six-year tenure with US payments giant Square.

Up, which launched in late 2018, has fast become the Bendigo group’s digital innovation powerhouse. Today, the neobank boasts more than 920,000 customers (growing by more than 29 per cent between FY23-24), with its unique feature set – including money management, bill splitting and digital loan pre-approval and settlement functions – serving as a significant drawcard for younger, digital-native customers.

Today, more than half of the Bendigo Group’s customers are under 40, with Up seen as a significant driver of the bank’s demographic shift.

Up’s relatively strong Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 49.0 points – notably above the big four banks as well as its parent Bendigo Bank, currently ranked at 27.8 points – remains a point of pride for the group, and something Marnie Baker, the recently departed Bendigo chief, said she was keen to replicate across the wider Bendigo brand.

Speaking at Bendigo’s recent full-year results presentation, she said the bank was focused on “deploying Up’s functionality, capability and agility across the group”, ensuring it could “further optimise our strong NPS across all our digital channels”.

Shay’s appointment is among several changes made to Bendigo’s executive team following the ascent of Richard Fennell to chief executive and managing director.

Taso Corolis has been announced as the group’s chief customer officer, consumer banking, with the customer-focused role tasked with driving portfolio growth and productivity enhancements.

Sarah Bateson will also step up to lead the group’s marketing function, heading a new Brand, Marketing and Communications Division.