Our popular Movers & Shakers – Financial Services series – a wrap-up of the industry’s senior leadership appointments, departures and movements – returns as a weekly!

Appointments

◼️ The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has appointed Jamie Crank as its next Group Executive of Technology and Data.

As part of his new role, formerly held by Dan Chesterman, Crank will oversee a broad data-focused remit, including management of the ASX’s data centre and connectivity services businesses, its enterprise data strategy, as well as product development and innovation, alongside distribution of the Exchange’s data products.

Crank has notched up more than eight years with the ASX, most recently as General Manager of Trading and Markets, overseeing the group’s securities and derivatives trading strategy and execution, and compliance obligations.

Prior to this, he also served more than three and half years as the ASX’s GM for Information and Connectivity Services.

Crank steps into the role following the departure of Chesterman in May this year.

In a statement issued on its LinkedIn page, the ASX said the appointment of Crank, comes “following an extensive external and internal search process”.

“Jamie brings his deep knowledge of exchanges from a career spanning more than 20 years, including eight years at ASX and a number of years at Chi-X Australia and the London Stock Exchange.”

Crank commences his new role on 9 September.

◼️ FinTech Australia has appointed Katie Wilson as its new Head of Policy.

Wilson joins the peak fintech industry body from social media giant Meta, where she served as Global Policy Manager.

“With a background in law and policy, Ms Wilson brings over a decade of experience to the role,” FinTech Australia wrote in a statement.

Wilson previously held legal and policy-related positions at ANZ Bank, the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet and law firm Herbert Smith Freehills.

The peak body acknowledged the criticality of the new role to its agenda, which has been designed to “facilitate industry relations with government, spearhead submissions and work with members to shape the peak body’s position on various regulatory issues”.

“Policy is instrumental to the work we do at FinTech Australia for our members. Katie’s appointment sees FinTech Australia double down on the pivotal role of our organisation within the fintech community,” said chief executive Rehan D’Almedia.

D’Almedia added that he “[looked] forward to working with Katie, shaping and reinforcing our positions in key areas such as the Consumer Data Right, payments and regulation of cryptocurrency.”

Wilson noted the key policy change initiatives of the role, including “working with the government and key decision-makers to improve competition, innovation and financial literacy in Australia”.

“My goal in the role is to maintain and build on that momentum, as many fundamental policy issues within the fintech industry begin to translate into applications and tools that will benefit everyday Australians.”

◼️ Heartland Bank Australia has appointed Medina Cicak as its new Chief Commercial Officer.

As part of the inagural role, Cicak will oversee Heartland’s newly established commercial business unit, supporting growth of the bank’s emerging retail, reverse mortgage, and livestock finance teams.

She will report directly to Michelle Winzer, who last month commenced as Chief Executive of Heartland Bank Australia, following the NZ-headquartered bank’s acquisition of Challenger and expansion into the Australian market.

Cicak boasts more than eight years’ experience in banking and financial services, with her most recent role as Head of Lending Product, Operations and Distribution at RACQ Bank. She also previously served as RACQ’s Head of Bank Resilience.

Cicak also held a number of senior positions during her nearly three-year tenure at Suncorp Bank, including Operations Manager.

Winzer said she was “thrilled” with the bank’s latest senior hire.

“As we continue to work through bringing our businesses together, I am confident that, under Medina’s leadership, we will see a consistent focus with synergy across our distribution teams and a targeted approach to growth.”

Cicak, commenting on her new role via LinkedIn, expressed her excitement about leading Heartland’s new commercial team.

“Heartland has brought its product distribution teams together to create a new Commercial business unit, and I’m excited to support the team in achieving our growth ambitions and helping more Australians with their banking needs,” she said.

◼️ Aware Super has appointed Christine McLoughlin as Chair of the $180 billion super fund.

McLoughlin boasts more than 25 years’ experience in the financial services sector as both an executive and non-executive director.

She succeeds former Aware Super Chair Sam Mostyn who stepped down from the role April following her appointment as Australia’s 28th Governor General.

“Attracting a Chair of Christine’s calibre reflects the importance Aware Super places on good governance and its deep expertise in delivering optimal member experiences,” said Aware Super Chair of Governance and Nominations Committee Patricia Faulkner.

“Aware Super’s ambition to lead in retirement is enabled by our industry-leading digital platform which offers our members a secure, easy and fast way of Interacting and getting the help they need to achieve their retirement aspirations.”

Commenting on her new board role, McLoughlin said: “I recognise this is a critical time for industry funds and the superannuation industry more broadly. I believe Aware Super is best in class and will continue to help many Australians navigate a successful retirement.

“As I’ve learned more about Aware Super, I’ve been struck by how strong the organisation is, not only in terms of their advice and digital services for members, innovation, investment capability and commitment to governance, but how they’re thinking about retirement.

McLoughlin, who also serves as Chair of the Suncorp Group and a Director on Cochlear Limited, officially assumes her role as Aware Super chair on 1 October 2024.

Departures

◼️ Bendigo and Adelaide Bank’s long-serving Chief Information Officer Andrew Cresp has concluded his tenure with the bank, offering a laudatory parting message to his former colleagues.

Cresp served four and a half years with Bendigo, with the bank confirming earlier this month his forthcoming departure from the organisation. Nathalie Moss has stepped in as interim CIO.

“I am hugely thankful for all those who trusted in our leadership and supported our incredible journey of simplification, modernisation and innovation,” Cresp wrote on his LinkedIn page.

“I’d particularly like to thank the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Board and especially Jacquie Hey and Vicki Carter for the support provided in executing transformation – enabling constructive challenge and support.”

Cresp expressed his appreciation for the “unwavering support” given to his tech team by the Bendigo executive, “letting us get on with the important work [of transformation] so that the bank can achieve its vision”.

He singled out the outgoing Marnie Baker “as an outstanding CEO whose level of support was critical to our success”, as well as Chief Transformation Officer Ryan Brosnahan “for his never-ending support and encouragement through the journey”.

Cresp also acknowledged “the outstanding technology team at Bendigo – for the fantastic progress in modernising and simplifying a great organisation.

“The team always look to innovate in world-leading ways creating new paths to success.

He summarised his teams’ successes in three key points:

• Simplification – we halved the number of applications from 650 to 326, [and] consolidated eight Core Banking eco-systems into three, on its way to one.
• Modernisation – we moved 43 per cent of workloads to the cloud (from 1 per cent) in less than four years, made 48 per cent of APIs… available for re-use.
• Innovation – we punched above our weight in creating a global-first use case to modernise legacy applications.

Cresp concluded stating he will enjoy “some R&R and time with my loved ones” before considering his next career opportunity.