Bank warns of reported third-party data breach

BOQ has announced that it has encountered a personal data breach by LandMark White Limited (LMW), a fund management company and provider of property valuations for the non-major lender.

Reportedly, the data that was breached and disclosed was related “solely to property valuation services” undertaken by LMW – including customer names, contact information (including phone numbers and email addresses) and other details related to property evaluations.

The “full extent” of the breach is still being determined, the bank said in a statement, although “it is believed that only a small number of customers have been impacted”.

“It is BOQ’s immediate priority to contact those individuals who have been affected,” the bank added.

The statement continues: “BOQ takes privacy and the responsibility to safeguard customer information seriously. BOQ will continue to investigate this matter and all dealings with LMW have been suspended until further notice.”

Concerned customers have been urged to contact the bank immediately or visit a nearby branch. 

CRO retires, new appointee announced 

In a separate announcement, the bank revealed that its chief risk officer, Peter Deans, will be retiring later this year.

After seven years of service in the role and concluding a 32-year career in the banking industry, Mr Deans will retire as CRO effective 31 May 2019, but has agreed to an “ongoing consultant arrangement” with the bank until 31 December 2019, in order to support a “smooth transition” in CRO leadership.  

Mr Deans will be replaced by the current the CEO of BOQ Finance and former CRO of BOQ Business, Adam McAnalen.

Mr McAnalen will assume the position of CRO on 1 June 2019.  

Interim CEO Anthony Rose said that Mr Deans had “built strong risk foundations” since taking the helm as CRO in March 2012, adding: “Peter is widely respected across the industry and has made a tremendous contribution to BOQ over his tenure.

“Under Peter’s leadership, BOQ’s risk capabilities have matured and the group’s risk metrics have significantly improved.”

“We are pleased that we will continue to benefit from Peter’s experience over the remainder of the year.”

The former CRO said that he felt the time was right to hand over the reins of risk foundation-building at the bank to the “next generation of leadership”.

Mr Deans thanked the board, the executive team and staff at BOQ for their support during his seven-year tenure as chief risk officer.

The BOQ CEO welcomed the appointment of Mr McAnalen as the incoming CRO, saying that his track record in “driving business performance” and his “extensive risk and banking experience” positioned him well to guide the BOQ through upcoming changes in the financial industry.

Prior to his appointment as CEO of BOQ Finance, Mr McAnalen held a number of senior risk roles and had also been general manager of retail credit, where he led the bank’s retail credit risk strategy, scorecards, decisioning, collection and recovery operations.

Mr McAnalen has also held senior commercial and business banking roles at Westpac Banking Corporation.