Non-major announces new executive appointments

The bank has appointed Taso Corolis as chief risk officer and Andrew Twaits as chief engagement officer.

Mr Corolis previously held the role of senior manager at the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and has been working in the financial services industry for approximately 20 years.

The newly appointed chief risk officer joined Bendigo following the lender’s acquisition of Rural Bank, where he was also responsible for risk governance.

Mr Corolis is a non-executive director of national not-for-profit charitable organisation Workskil Australia.

Managing director of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Mike Hirst believes that Mr Corolis’ experience in risk management will stand the bank in “good stead”.

“Taso [has] experience [in] a number of different parts of our business,” Mr Hirst said.

“Importantly, through his roles at APRA, he’s been right across areas of risk as a regulator, and I think that will certainly stand us in good stead given the capability that we’ve developed over the period.”

Meanwhile, the new chief engagement officer, Andrew Twaits, who joined the bank in September 2017, previously operated his own digital/data strategy business and continues to operate as chairman of the AFL Player’s Association.

“Andrew has launched and run a very successful digital business in Australia. His skills are highly regarded by many retail sectors in the digital space, and we look forward to the contribution he’s going to make to our team going forward,” Mr Hirst added.

NPP roll-out

As well as the news of the appointments, Bendigo announced that it has introduced the New Payments Platform (NPP) this week.

The bank joins a number of Australian banks that have introduced NPP to enable customers of participating financial institutions to make and receive payments between bank accounts in real time.

Bendigo opened the platform to staff and selected participants on Tuesday (13 February), and it will gradually offer the platform to its e-banking customers within the next month.

Chief customer officer Marnie Baker said that the platform is a “revolution” in Australian banking.

“Having to wait to receive payments, sometimes a few days, is an unnecessary inconvenience for Australian consumers,” Ms Baker said.

“We’re pleased to offer the New Payments Platform to Australian consumers, giving them a simple, fast and secure way to manage their finances with confidence.

“Our staged approach to rolling out this new technology means we can ensure every participating Bendigo Bank customer has the kind of exceptional experience they can expect from our bank.

“We look forward to offering this new technology to our customers and proudly join the financial services industry in rolling out this payment capability.”

[Related: Bank looks to grow investor and IO loans]