St George Bank has announced a corporate restructure across its retail and business services, by appointing Martin Barrett to the newly created position of Queensland Managing Director.
As part of a national overhaul, managing directors have been allocated to every state in a bid to bring customers even closer to senior management decision making.
Chief Executive Greg Bartlett says more regions now have the opportunity to be directly represented at a higher level.
“This is about being closer to our customers and local communities. Enhancing customer relationships by region will allow St George to provide the most responsive, tailored and personalised service in the market,” Bartlett says.
As the new Managing Director for Queensland, Barrett has overall responsibility for the bank’s local business, representing Queensland customers on the Executive Committee and driving the business and marketshare forward.
“Queensland is a major focus for St George and there are enormous growth opportunities here. The State has proven very resilient in the challenging economic conditions.
“We’re also planning significant investment in Queensland. This includes increasing employee numbers with up to 30 new roles over the next 12 months and expanding our branch numbers and ATM networks by 10 percent across the State to ensure optimal customer convenience,” he says.
Specific priorities also include expansion within the growth corridor regions of Brisbane North, the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane CBD.
“These regions are benefiting from Queensland’s sound population growth, which at 2.6 percent is well above the national average,” Barrett says.
“These new initiatives, and more, mean that local QLD communities benefit directly. St George will provide a compelling alternative to the Big Four. We’re big enough to service all of our customer’s needs but small enough to provide personalised and localised financial solutions.”
Barrett was promoted to the role due to his exceptional leadership skills and outstanding performance in Western Australia and NSW, where he spent seven years managing St George Bank’s corporate and retail banking teams.