Professional services firm hires ‘bank whisperer’

Mr Winterflood has spent 30 years in banking roles with Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and St. George, and was state manager for Queensland at Bankwest for 12 years. He has now taken on the role of advisory partner at BDO’s Brisbane office.

Mr Stacey has spent 10 years in commercial banking and eight years in restructuring with Lloyds Banking Group and as national head of Suncorp’s Banking Recovery team. He is now executive director at BDO’s Brisbane office.

According to the audit, tax, and advisory firm, Mr Winterflood and Mr Stacey are the only former executive-level bankers working in a business restructuring division in Australia, and will advise BDO clients on “how to reduce their risk rating and negotiate the best cost structures”.

To mark the company’s commitment to the shift to business restructuring, BDO has also rebranded its Business Recovery & Insolvency division, which will henceforth be known as BDO Business Restructuring.

National head of BDO’s Business Restructuring, Andrew Fielding, said: “With their collective experience, Peter and Darren are well-positioned to assist our clients with their finance strategies, advise how to reduce their risk rating and negotiate the best cost structures.

“Banks are looking for business partners who can provide innovative and proactive business strategies to help their clients succeed.

“If you want to provide a better service to the banking sector it makes sense to have someone who speaks their language.”

Although Mr Winterflood and Mr Stacey will both be based at BDO’s Brisbane office, Mr Fielding has said that the company thinks that having executive-level bankers working in the practice is “a real competitive advantage” and will therefore seek to replicate the same system in its Sydney and Melbourne offices.

“We’re very excited by the possibilities of what can be achieved with this new venture,” Mr Fielding said.

[Related: BDO drops Insolvency from Recovery division]