Newcastle Permanent-Greater merger drives IT strategy shift

The Newcastle Greater Mutual Group (NGM Group) has taken steps to refine its IT strategy and team structure, resulting in resignations and fresh appointments.

Greater Bank and Newcastle Permanent Building Society merged in March this year to form the customer-owned NGM Group, based in the Hunter region of NSW and with total assets of more than $20 billion.

In the months since the merge, the new organisation has started to consolidate its IT strategy, operations and teams, with the first results of that work now apparent.

iTnews can reveal Newcastle Permanent’s chief technology officer Jodi Stapleton is stepping down from the role. Head of cyber, Josh Hessel, is also opting to leave.

Jeremy Andreani has now taken over Hessel’s role as of this June, after initially moving from Greater Bank to NGM Group as its head of cyber, technology and data risk.

An NGM Group spokesperson told iTnews unifying the two organisations “as one has seen some changes across teams”.

“This has led to movements internally and some employees deciding to take up opportunities externally," the spokesperson said.

"We congratulate Jeremy on his new appointment with NGM Group, and we wish Jodi and Josh all the best in the next chapter of their careers."

Combining the two institutions also led to the NGM Board requesting "a strategic evaluation of the group’s existing and planned technology solutions”.

Upon this review, it was decided that a contract with specialist software and services provider, Data Action (DA) and one of the merged entities, Greater Bank, should end.

In 2019, DA had been tasked with migrating Greater Bank’s legacy systems to its cloud-based core banking platform, in what was considered a “major strategic partnership”.

“The outcome of this review is NGM Group and Data Action (DA) have agreed that the contract between the organisations for DA’s core banking technology and services will not continue beyond the date of expiry in August 2024,” said the NGM Group spokesperson.

The spokesperson added that the two companies “recognise the value that the partnership has created and are committed to working together in the coming months to positively conclude our relationship.”

“NGM Group strategy is focused on enabling our customers and people through technology and digitally-enabled solutions," the spokesperson said.

“An evolution of the NGM Group technology program, the technology enablement approach allows us to deliver frequent, flexible and iterative initiatives, which will deliver enhancements and value.”