CBA hires a head of data science

The Commonwealth Bank has hired the former chief data science officer for SingTel, a 17-year veteran of the data and analytics industry, to deliver on its data science ambitions.

Amy Shi-Nash

CBA went to market for a head of data science in September last year, asking for an executive who could help build its internal data analytics strategy.

"Big data and data science are changing the world," CBA said in its job ad last year.

"At CommBank we understand this and have significant focus on using the power of data and analytics to transform our business and to provide differentiated customer experience."

Starting this month, Amy Shi-Nash will report into general manager of information strategy services Andrew Kerr and take over responsibility for data science initiatives.

She has been tasked with driving the "strategic direction of the data science capability, enabling business transformation and differentiated customer experience" at CBA, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Shi-Nash takes over an analytics and information team whose remit covers strategy, architecture, data science, business intelligence, engineering, and program delivery, and which is responsible for the bank's core analytics capabilities.

She joins the bank from Singapore telco SingTel, where she spent four years as the founder and head of its DataSpark advanced analytics arm, with a mandate to "develop and commercialise innovative big data insight" for the group.

Prior to her time at SingTel, Shi-Nash worked in Accenture's analytics and marketing business, and has several years of experience in the field at firms within the UK.

Shi-Nash has a Ph D in data mining from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

CBA confirmed the appointment but declined to comment further.