CBA Group Exec Enterprise Services and Chief Information Officer departs

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has announced that David Whiteing, group executive enterprise services and chief information officer, will depart his role, effective April 2018.

Whiteing joined CBA in September 2013 and was appointed to his most recent role in July 2014. Prior to joining CBA, he was vice president of enterprise systems at BP, based in the United Kingdom.

In a joint statement from CBA's CEO Ian Narev, and incoming CEO Matt Comyn, it was also announced that Melanie Laing, group exec human resources, will retire at the end of the year and that Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, group executive institutional banking and markets, will leave the bank in April.

Narev said that "leadership transitions are inevitably a time of change in senior teams, as executives reassess their own plans," with Comyn adding that he is "focussed on building an executive leadership team that will work to exceed the expectations of [CBA's] customers."

Commenting on Whiteing's departure, Narev said: "David has been a leader within the CBA for changing the way in which business teams and IT teams work together to deliver better experiences for customers. Over the past two years in particular, innovation has been combined with a significant reduction in downtime, despite increasing volumes. We thank David for his role in enhancing CBA's technology advantage. We have also benefited from his contributions to our Executive Committee's efforts to build a more innovative culture across CBA."

Whiteing added: "Over the past four years we have made significant progress using our technology and operations capability to better meet our customers' needs. I am particularly proud of the work we have done in speeding up decision making and delivery. This has all been achieved while maintaining focus on our innovation agenda. We have a great team who will play a crucial role in the next stages of the strategy."

Paul Newham, currently EGM group operations, will take acting responsibilities for the enterprise services division while a global search is undertaken to appoint Whiteing's successor.