Non-major makes board appointments

The bank has appointed former Westpac executive John Arthur and AMP Capital executive David Atkin as non-executive directors, effective 1 January.

The appointments have followed the retirement of ME Bank non-executive director John Nesbitt after four years on the board.

Mr Arthur was previously the chief operating officer and head of group services at Westpac prior to his retirement in 2016. He was previously a non-executive director of businesses including Australian Funds Management, CSR, and Investa Property Group.

He is currently the chair of Sydney Metro.

Mr Atkin is deputy CEO of AMP Capital and was CEO of Cbus Super until his retirement from the role in 2020. He is currently the chair of SuperFriend.

He was previously a board member for the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA), Frontier Advisors, and Principles for Responsible Investment.

Commenting on the board appointments, ME Bank chairman James Evans said that he welcomes Mr Arthur and Mr Atkin to the board.

“John is a highly experienced and respected leader and comes to us with a wealth of banking and management experience,” Mr Evans said.

“In particular, his expertise in delivering improved customer experience for banking customers through tech and digital innovation and streamlining customer operations will be of significant value to ME.

Mr Evans added that Mr Atkin is “equally experienced and respected” in the financial services industry.

“He has a demonstrated track record of leading growth and transformation projects that create long-term sustainable value for customers and stakeholders, for some of Australia’s largest financial services businesses,” Mr Evans said.

“Both new appointees will bring decades of experience and leadership to the board and will add significant value as we continue to deliver on ME’s promise to help people get ahead, in what is a time of significant change for the banking industry in Australia.’’

Speaking about Mr Nesbitt’s retirement, Mr Evans said that he had served the board “with distinction”.

“The board and I would like to thank him for the significant contribution he has made,” he said.

“John’s expertise in finance and extensive knowledge of and experience in banking and financial services have been especially valuable as the Bank has navigated the considerable change in the industry and the operating environment.”

Mr Nesbitt previously held roles at Suncorp Group, including group chief financial officer, and CEO, Suncorp Banking and Wealth, and was previously the chairman and non-executive director of AMP Capital Funds Management Limited and AMP Capital Holdings Limited.

[Related: ME appoints new chair and directors]

Malavika Santhebennur is the features editor on the mortgages titles at Momentum Media.

Before joining the team in 2019, Malavika held roles with Money Management and Benchmark Media. She has been writing about financial services for the past six years.