Westpac appoints chief transformation officer

Westpac has announced the appointment of Yianna Papanikolaou to the role of chief transformation officer, to take responsibility for the bank’s CORE program.

Papanikolaou will now lead the national bank’s customer outcomes and risk excellence (CORE) program which falls under its ‘Fix, Simplify, Perform’ strategy, implemented after APRA’s risk governance review.

Until now, the CORE was the domain of Westpac group executive for financial crime and compliance Les Vance, however he is set to leave later this year as announced in the bank’s quarterly results.

Papanikolaou will also have responsibility for Westpac’s major change and investment programs.

Papanikolaou is expected to start in late April depending on regulatory approvals and will sit on Westpac’s executive team and report to CEO Peter King.

King said “continuing to transform culture and risk management remains a major focus for the Group in our efforts to build a simpler, stronger bank and the CORE program is an integral part of this plan”.

“Yianna brings a wealth of global experience in large scale transformations across major organisations.”

Papanikolaou recently joined Westpac as general manager for the group transformation office.

Prior to Westpac Papanikolaou was with Deutsche Bank in the UK for close to seven and half years in various roles, most recently as managing director, chief transformation office.

For over four years Papanikolaou worked at the at the Royal Bank of Scotland based in the UK, first as head of strategy and transformation for corporate banking, before stepping into the role of head of operational excellence and strategic initiatives for corporate banking.

Papanikolaou has also worked at information technology services and consulting company Accenture, plus as a consultant for PwC and as a software engineer in the US.