People’s Choice has announced the immediate appointment of Andy Weir as its new Chief Information Officer (CIO), ahead of the credit union’s $23 billion merger with Heritage Bank.
Experienced in large-scale strategic and digital transformations, Mr Weir has been Acting CIO with People’s Choice for the past six months and will become CIO for the newly merged organisation on 1 March 2023.
“Andy is a deeply experienced and collaborative professional, who has already made an outstanding contribution to People’s Choice, said Chief Executive Officer, Steve Laidlaw.
“He’s established himself as an exceptional leader and a strong advocate for our values as a member-owned organisation. Throughout an extensive recruitment process he stood out as the ideal person to guide us through our next, critical phase – bringing together our two IT systems and teams.”
Mr Weir has previously held executive roles with CommBank, Bankwest and Halifax Bank of Scotland across technology, transformation, change management, integration and retail banking. Notably, he led Bankwest’s East Coast Retail expansion, its integration into the CBA Group, and the bank’s agile operating model transformation.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to be joining People’s Choice at such an exciting time. The merger with Heritage will create a significant new major national financial services organisation, providing a genuine alternative to the major banks,” Mr Weir said.
“Technology will be key to the successful delivery of our new organisation’s strategy, as we seek to create leading digital experiences for our members. While there’s a significant amount of work to do to bring our technology together, we’re not simply going to merge existing systems, we’ll also create new and improved technology platforms for the benefit of our members. It’s a fantastic challenge.”
The merger of People’s Choice and Heritage will create Australia’s ninth largest bank – and the nation’s largest mutual bank – with approximately 720,000 members, 1900 employees and 95 branches in Queensland, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and the Northern Territory.
The merged organisation will remain proudly member-owned and will continue to operate under the People’s Choice and Heritage brands for an interim period, before adopting a single new brand in 2024.
Media Enquiries
Jonathan Revitt | Public Affairs Manager0412 639 179 | jrevitt@peopleschoicecu.com.au
Stuart Symons | Head of Public Affairs, Communications & Planning
0417 895 147 | ssymons@peopleschoicecu.com.au
