COO – Regional Operations — Corporate Bank

The mandate

A multinational-owned corporate bank delivers regional service through incompatible country and product operating models. Client onboarding, credit fulfilment, payments and servicing use different hand-offs, measures and exception routes. A core-banking renewal now forces these differences into the open. The board needs one operating system that preserves justified local requirements without migrating historical fragmentation.

The COO – Regional Operations will steward approximately A$80,900 million in loans and deposits and lead around 950 employees and material partners. Scope includes client operations, onboarding, credit and loan administration, transaction servicing, workforce, controls, resilience, partners and operational delivery of the core renewal. The position reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated executive committee sponsor.

The operating baseline will follow complete client journeys. Demand, completion, queues, rework, exceptions, customer effort, control and fully loaded cost need to reconcile across markets. Local service results cannot exclude work transferred to shared teams, relationship managers or clients. Each journey requires an accountable owner from request to confirmed outcome.

The future model should distinguish standard work from legitimate difference. Common data, roles, service levels, controls and platforms can create scale; regulation, language or customer complexity may require local capability. Every variation needs evidence, an owner and cost. Custom cannot remain the default because change is difficult.

Core renewal will be sequenced around operating readiness. Data quality, entitlements, procedures, workforce proficiency, client testing, reconciliation and rollback should clear gates before migration. Technical completion does not justify exposing customers to an operation that cannot recover or explain outcomes.

Capacity planning will use demand and skill, not headcount ratios alone. Volume, complexity, cut-offs, seasonality and failure demand should determine staffing. Overtime and partners cannot indefinitely compensate for poor process or delayed decisions. Released capacity must be redeployed or removed before benefits are claimed.

Exception management deserves redesign. High-value corporate clients may require flexibility, but recurring exceptions can conceal product, policy or data failures. The COO will price their service and control burden, make approval explicit and remove arrangements whose relationship value cannot justify operating consequence.

Operational controls will be integrated into flow. Reconciliations, maker-checker activity, confirmations and access should prevent specific risk and generate usable evidence. Duplicate checks that delay customers without reducing exposure will be challenged with independent risk, not removed unilaterally.

Partners need consistent accountability across markets. Contracts should cover service, quality, security, resilience, change, knowledge and exit. The bank must understand replacement time and retain operational control when a provider performs visible customer work.

Leadership will move from site or product protection to regional journeys. Country operations leaders retain local regulatory accountability within clear standards. Succession will test executives through cut-off events, migrations and incidents, building depth beyond a few experienced problem-solvers.

Why this seat is open

This planned replacement includes a four-to-six-month incumbent handover. The timing protects live delivery and gives the successor influence over migration and organisation choices before the next core-renewal gate.

What you will own

• Establish one regional operating system across corporate-bank journeys.
• Steward operations supporting A$80,900 million of loans and deposits.
• Align common standards with evidenced local regulatory difference.
• Govern core migration through client and operating-readiness gates.
• Reduce failure demand, exceptions, rework and hidden service cost.
• Lead approximately 950 employees and partners with regional succession.
• Integrate operational controls, resilience and partner accountability.
• Give the board credible service, capacity, cost and migration options.

The first 12 months

The first 90 days should reconcile journey performance, capacity and migration readiness. Meet the 30 stakeholders most consequential to regional operations, including major clients, country leaders, relationship teams, risk, technology and partners. Stabilise critical delivery, assess leaders and agree operating gates.

Months four to nine should assign journey owners, simplify priority exceptions and standardise work before migration. Reset capacity and material partner arrangements. Initial value may appear through faster completion, lower rework, improved reliability, released cost or a migration risk removed.

By year end, one operating system, dependable service and scalable capacity should be demonstrable across markets. Delivery needs to remain within 10% of approval and forecasts should reconcile demand, cash, clients and people for three quarters. Priority issues require independent closure proof; severe escalation cannot age beyond 30 days.

What the board will measure

• End-to-end completion, service reliability and first-time resolution.
• Failure demand, manual effort, overtime and fully loaded unit cost.
• Core migrations clearing client, control and operating-readiness gates.
• Regional variation supported by legal or customer evidence.
• Preserve above 90% of critical operations talent and ready cover for 70% of direct roles.
• Partner resilience, quality, knowledge and executable exit readiness.

The person

You are a Regional COO, Operations President or Delivery Executive with 22–28 years in banking or adjacent regulated services. You have carried end-to-end delivery accountability across multiple markets, sites or channels and unified incompatible operating models.

Your accountable P&L, book, budget or portfolio has been at least A$46,900 million, and you have led 950 or more people. You can show service and cost results sustained over two reporting periods.

You understand corporate onboarding, credit operations, transaction servicing, controls and core migration. You can challenge local workarounds without losing client context and distinguish productivity from deferred hiring or transferred effort.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is A$520,000–700,000 plus annual incentive and LTI. The permanent Sydney appointment is onsite, supports international relocation and accommodates notice up to six months.

Confidentiality

The bank, incumbent, operating model and renewal plan remain confidential. Details follow mutual fit and a confidentiality undertaking; published facts prevent identification.