ANZ appoints managing director of New Business, Emerging Technology and Ventures

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has announced the appointment of Ron Spector as managing director of New Business, Emerging Technology and Ventures.

Reporting to Maile Carnegie, group executive digital banking, Spector will be tasked with developing new business opportunities and technologies, and investing in emerging companies to improve products and services provided to customers.

Carnegie said, “Ron will lead a Group-wide function to accelerate our efforts to make our customers’ lives simpler and find new, innovative opportunities to build a world-class digital bank. We’re confident this focus will open new markets for ANZ, while also improving the products and services we provide our customers.”

Spector will relocate to Sydney from January; he will be coming from San Francisco, where he is currently cofounder and partner of boutique innovation consulting firm Circini Innovation. The firm has worked with a number of Australian corporates, including ANZ, Coles, and Wesfarmers.

He was also a founding partner of Macquarie Technology Ventures and was US Head of Technology Investment Banking at Macquarie Group.

The appointment of Spector follows the creation of the Chief Design Officer role in September, to which ANZ appointed former general manager of global design consulting firm IDEO, Opher Yom-Tov.

In this role, Yom-Tov will lead a team of design specialists in building out ANZ’s human-centered design capabilities, improving experiences for both employees and customers.

Carnegie said of Yom-Tov’s appointment at the time, “Ensuring that great design is part of our development process is an important part of ANZ’s digital transformation and is essential to making sure we provide our customers what they really want.

“Opher’s appointment to this new role will help us deliver compelling experiences by putting ourselves in the customer’s shoes, which is one of the core principles of working in an agile way.”

Also looking to digital transformation, National Australia Bank (NAB) announced last week it will be cutting 6,000 jobs over the next three years due to automation and the restructuring of its products and bank branches, though 2,000 new digitally-focused roles will be created.

Andrew Thorburn, chief executive of NAB, said, “As transactions move to digital channels, and this is driven by our customers, we will need fewer people.”

With the shift to digital, NAB stated that it will be investing an extra $1.5 billion in its transformation plan over the next three years, with a focus on technology and automation to assist its business lending division.

Image: Maile Carnegie.