Afterpay CTO switches to NAB's UBank

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) darling Afterpay has lost its chief technology officer of three years, Jon Donoghue, to NAB and its digital operation UBank.

Donoghue has been appointed chief information officer for UBank as well as what NAB calls “enabling functions”, which means he officially sits within NAB’s Technology and Enterprise Operations division.

He will report to NAB’s group executive for Technology and Enterprise Operations Patrick Wright.

“Jon joining our team is another step forward in our transformation to creating a simpler and faster bank, to deliver better experiences for our UBank customers,” Wright said in a statement.

“The combination of Jon steering the technology for UBank and Philippa Watson leading the business will set the digital bank up for success to deliver great things for our customers into the future.”

Donoghue spent three years at Afterpay, joining the company straight after its half-billion dollar merger with Touchcorp back in 2017.

“I’m excited to be joining NAB as it continues its technology transformation to provide a simple, secure and personalised banking experience for customers,” Donoghue said in a statement.

Prior to Afterpay, Donoghue spent over 20 years at UBS “in a variety of international roles before moving to Sydney where he eventually took full responsibility for markets technology across Asia Pacific in addition to being CIO for Australia and New Zealand.”