CBA appoints former Westpac CEO to board of directors

Lyn Cobley’s new role as independent non-executive director on the board of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) will come into effect from 1 October 2022.

With over 30 years of financial services experience, Ms Cobley has held the positions of CEO of Westpac’s institutional business, chair of Westpac’s Asia advisory board along with group treasurer of CBA.

The bank also advised that Shirish Apte, independent non-executive director of the CBA board, had made the decision to not offer himself for re-election at the 2022 annual general meeting (AGM) after eight years of service.

Mr Apte was a member of the board audit committee as well as a former chair and member of the board risk and compliance committee. He will retire from the board at the conclusion of 2022 AGM.

CBA chair Paul O'Malley said he was “delighted” to announce Ms Cobley’s appointment and welcomed her “breadth of financial services experience in her role as non-executive director of CBA”.

Commenting on Mr Apte’s departure from the board, Mr O'Malley stated: “On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Shirish for his considerable contribution to CBA during his more than eight years as a director.

“Shirish’s financial services experience has been invaluable to CBA, particularly in relation to the board’s decision making on strategy and operational risk.”

Mr O'Malley continued, stating that Mr Apte displayed “strong interest in customer and strategic outcomes” throughout his tenure with CBA.

“Shirish also played a key role in the completion of the Remedial Action Plan and oversight of CBA’s stronger culture of accountability,” Mr O'Malley concluded.

“On behalf of CBA, I thank him for his contribution to CBA.”

CBA recently appointed former HSBC global chief information officer for wealth and personal banking, Gavin Munroe, as the new group executive for technology and group chief information officer.

Mr Munroe will be replacing Pascal Boillat after his four-year tenure with CBA in November 2022.

Matt Comyn, CEO of CBA, commented at the time: “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.

“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.”

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