Westpac promotes CIO

Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer has used his first day in the job to give the bank's CIO Dave Curran a promotion, elevating technology to report directly into the CEO.

Hartzer was announced as the successor to long-running former Westpac CEO Gail Kelly in November after Kelly revealed plans to retire. He officially started in the new role today.

He confirmed his executive leadership team would remain as is, but with a number of changes to reporting lines - including shifting technology to sit directly within his line of sight.

It means a promotion for Westpac chief information officer Dave Curran, who until today reported into chief operating officer John Arthur. Hartzer's decision to elevate technology puts Curran on the same executive level as Arthur.

The move follows the bank's decision to propel the position of CIO onto the executive team when Curran joined Westpac late last year, which meant he reported into Arthur rather than COO of technology Les Vance.

"Given the changing ways customers are choosing to manage their finances, particularly through online, digital and mobile solutions, the technology function will be critical to us achieving our strategy," Hartzer said in a statement today.

"As such, it is appropriate that Dave Curran's role will report directly into me."

Curran has spent the five months since his arrival bolstering his team, including hiring two former Commonwealth Bank colleagues, Myles Hannan and Michael Sikh, into two new enterprise architecture and solutions consulting roles.

Curran also welcomed SAP's global head of retail banking, Robert Wilson, into the long-vacant position of chief technology officer, and promoted CIO of retail, business banking and wealth Richard Holmes into a new general manager of infrastructure and operations position.