June 19 (Reuters) – Commonwealth Bank of Australia named Victoria Ledda as group chief information officer and Rodrigo Castillo as group chief technology officer on Friday as the lender sharpens its focus on digital, data and artificial intelligence capabilities.
Here are some details:
• Ledda will lead business-aligned technology strategy and delivery across the group, while Castillo will oversee enterprise technology foundations, including engineering, security and AI capabilities.
• The move comes as CBA, Australia’s largest lender by market value, ramps up investment in technology to improve customer experience and strengthen its operations, even as AI becomes more costly and complex to roll out.
• Chief Executive Matt Comyn said the appointments reflected the bank’s focus on “delivering better, safer and more resilient technology for customers”.
• The appointments will be effective July 1 and subject to regulatory approvals, CBA said.
• CBA, which has been positioning itself as an early adopter of AI, recently hosted an internal summit featuring OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman and has hired what it described as the country’s first chief AI scientist within a bank.
• In late April, Bloomberg reported peer ANZ Group had appointed its first chief data and AI officer.
• Ledda joined CBA in 2021 in senior technology roles and Castillo as chief technology officer in 2023. Previously, Ledda spent 15 years at Goldman Sachs and Castillo held senior roles at HSBC.
(Reporting by Anjali Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
