SYDNEY, June 25, 2026, 03:06 (AEST)
- Westpac said Richard Heeley will take over as chief information officer, stepping in for Scott Collary, who is retiring. Heeley is set to start later this year.
- Shares finished up 0.85% at A$35.78. The S&P/ASX 200 added 0.24% to 8,808.4.
- Heeley is set to run infrastructure, cybersecurity and engineering at Westpac while the bank continues its UNITE systems upgrade.
Westpac Banking Corp shares were up Wednesday as the bank said Macquarie Group executive Richard Heeley will be its new chief information officer. Heeley will lead Westpac’s main tech systems later this year.
The stock ended at A$35.78, rising 0.85%. Shares are still down 7.31% for the year. The S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.24% at 8,808.4.
Heeley is set to succeed Scott Collary, who’s retiring. CEO Anthony Miller called Heeley “a proven technology leader” and said he would “lead the next phase” of Westpac’s overhaul. Miller said Heeley can “simplify systems, improve resilience.” Heeley said his aim is “the best digital banking experience in the market.” Westpac
Heeley has led tech at Macquarie’s Banking and Financial Services group since 2016. While he was in charge, the group shifted its main banking systems onto a cloud platform, switching from using only the bank’s own servers to outside computing infrastructure.
Westpac has tapped Heeley to join UNITE, its long-term push to cut its operations to fewer systems. The bank said it finished a major migration in March, shifting adviser accounts onto the BT Panorama wealth platform. Work on consolidating systems for the commercial bank is in progress.
Westpac’s first-half net profit came in at A$3.41 billion, missing the analyst forecast of A$3.47 billion. The bank booked A$443 million in charges for expected bad loans, up from A$250 million a year earlier. Net interest margin narrowed to 1.89% from 1.92%.
Westpac will pay a fully franked interim dividend of 77 Australian cents on Friday, June 26. The payout gives eligible Australian holders tax credits on company tax already paid.
But the hire doesn’t take away execution risk. Westpac still has to move customers and products onto UNITE without outages, delays, or blowing the budget. The Reserve Bank of Australia left its cash rate at 4.35%. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index dropped 2.9% to 80.6 in June. If weak household confidence and high borrowing costs stick around, arrears could rise and the bank may need to put more aside for bad loans.
