CBA announces new group exec for technology, information

The chief executive of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), Matt Comyn, has announced a change to the bank’s executive leadership team.

Pascal Boillat, the bank’s group executive for technology and group chief information officer, is set to leave CBA in mid-November to return to “the Northern Hemisphere” to be closer to his family.

Mr Boillat has led the charge on a number of strategic initiatives to significantly strengthen CBA’s IT systems, processes and culture since joining the bank in 2018.

As such, it has now been announced that HSBC’s global chief information officer for wealth and personal banking, Gavin Munroe, will be assuming Mr Boillat’s role as of 14 November 2022.

The incoming CBA group executive has more than two decades of financial services experience, having driven large-scale technology, digital and agile transformation. 

He is currently responsible for technology across wealth, private banking, insurance, retail and digital businesses at HSBC but has previously worked with Bank of America Merrill Lynch where he headed technology for wealth management, consumer products, mortgage and operations. He has also held leadership roles with Morgan Stanley and Wachovia.

Commenting on the change, Mr Comyn paid tribute to Mr Boillat, stating: “Pascal has made a significant contribution to CBA over the past four years. He has been consistently focused on ensuring our technology is resilient, safe, sound and secure.

Mr Comyn continued by stating that Mr Boillat had “established a very strong leadership team”, along with developing engineering talent and capabilities at CBA, as well as having overseen “major IT upgrades, introduced modern applications, simplified and decommissioned old technology, and accelerated the shift to the public cloud”.

“My leadership team and I have enjoyed working with Pascal and have benefited from his global technology experience. We wish Pascal all the best for the future,” Mr Comyn said.

He welcomed the appointment of Mr Munroe, emphasising his extensive experience in driving digital transformations.

“Gavin has a proven track record of delivering technology solutions at a global scale, managing and building strong teams, and leading large programs aligned to business strategies and goals,” the CBA CEO said.

“I look forward to working alongside Gavin to continue delivering global best digital experiences for our customers.”

CBA has been placing an increasing focus on its technology and digital transformation, outlining earlier this month that “the digital distribution advantage as a complement to physical” could drive “increasing returns to scale”.

While releasing its results for the financial year ended 30 June 2022, Mr Comyn told analysts: “Over the course of a year, a few million customers will visit us in one of our branches. That compares to our digital experience, where we see, on average, nearly 9 million logins per day”.

However, the bank outlined the importance of continuing growth in all three channels (proprietary, broker and online), as it builds its $556 billion loan book.

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