Westpac poaches Macquarie BFS CIO Richard Heeley as next tech chief

Westpac will bring in the IT leader of Macquarie's banking and financial services division as its next chief information officer.

The bank disclosed in an ASX filing that it had hired Macquarie BFS' chief information officer of almost a decade, Richard Heeley.

Heeley replaces Scott Collary, who is set to retire.

CEO Anthony Miller said Heeley "will accelerate Westpac's technology agenda, overseeing infrastructure, cyber security and engineering."

"He'll work in close partnership with Unite, Data, Digital and AI teams across the bank, led by Peter Herbert and Andrew McMullan," Miller said.

Unite is a technology simplification program intended to consolidate the bank's operations on a single IT stack.

Miller said Heeley "is a proven technology leader who understands how to lead large-scale digital transformation in retail banking."

"He's helped build and lead a successful digital bank and we look forward to welcoming him to Westpac," Miller said.

"Richard has deep experience building and running critical platforms at scale, and he knows what it takes to simplify systems, improve resilience and deliver a first-class digital banking experience for customers."

The hire signals Westpac's push to modernize its technology infrastructure as competition in digital banking intensifies. Macquarie's BFS unit has been a benchmark for digital efficiency in Australian retail banking, and Heeley's decade-long tenure there included building the bank's digital platform from scratch.

Westpac has been investing heavily in its Unite program, which aims to replace dozens of legacy systems with a single technology stack. The bank has said the program will reduce costs and speed up product delivery, though it has also contributed to higher near-term expenses.

Heeley's start date was not disclosed in the filing. Collary's retirement timeline was also not specified.