Former Suncorp CEO joins Bendigo Bank’s board

David Foster has been appointed to serve as a non-executive director on Bendigo and Adelaide Bank’s board.

Mr Foster currently serves on the boards of several organisations within the financial services, retail, education and professional services industries, which include Genworth Australia, Thorn Group, Motorcycles Holdings Ltd, and G8 Education Ltd.

The new appointee previously held several roles within the financial sector, which included a stint as CEO of Suncorp Bank and as general manager of Westpac Group.

Bendigo’s chairman, Robert Johanson, welcomed Mr Foster to the bank’s board.

“David has deep experience in real retail banking. This will be very helpful as we continue to grow the bank,” he said.

The appointment follows the release of Bendigo’s full-year results for the 2019 financial year.

The bank reported statutory net profit of $376.8 million in in the 2018-19 financial year, down 13.3 per cent year-on-year from $434.5 million in the previous corresponding period. 

The profit was weakened by costs associated with customer remediation ($16.7 million) and redundancies ($11.9 million), as well as “unrealised losses” in its reverse mortgage business Homesafe ($24.1 million) due to the prolonged period of declining property prices in Melbourne and Sydney, according to the non-major bank.

Its net interest margin stayed steady at 2.36 per cent in FY19.

[Related: Bendigo reports fall in profit, rise in mortgage growth]