Former CBA exec Adam Bennett joining Suncorp

Suncorp has plugged a key executive hole with the appointment of former CBA executive Adam Bennett.

Adam Bennett is joining Suncorp as chief information officer. Picture: Supplied

Suncorp plugged one of two executive holes in its front bench on Monday with the appointment of former Commonwealth Bank executive Adam Bennett as chief information officer.

In an ASX statement, the insurance and banking group said Mr Bennett would start in the role on July 1, subject to regulatory approval.

Mr Bennett held a range of technology and banking roles at CBA and was most recently its group executive for business and private banking until early this year. He also held other roles at CBA, including information chief for the retail and business banking divisions.

The Suncorp appointment follows the departure of former CIO Sarah Harland in March. Darren Abbruzzese, executive general manager digital, labs and insurance technology, was acting Suncorp CIO while a search was conducted.

But Suncorp is yet to fill another key role among its ranks after last month’s departure of Lee Hatton, the chief executive of the group’s banking and wealth management unit.

Ms Hatton left Suncorp — after only joining in February — to join listed buy-now, pay-later group Afterpay. Bruce Rush is acting in her Suncorp role while an executive search gets underway.

On the appointment of Mr Bennett, Suncorp CEO Steve Johnston highlighted his track record in technology and commercial roles, saying he was well placed to “guide the group’s strategic technology path and digitisation, automation and data initiatives”.

“Technology is pivotal to delivering our group strategy and the operational, product and customer opportunities we are seeking,” he said.

Bell Potter analyst TS Lim was also positive on Mr Bennett’s appointment.

“As CIO in CBA’s retail and business banks running the core banking platform modernisation project and having front line experience, he should be right across the issues facing the front, middle and back offices,” Mr Lim said.

Still, Suncorp’s shares dropped 3.2 per cent to $9 on Monday, as financial stocks were hit by a sell-off on investor jitters about earnings growth and an expected spike in loan losses.

Morgan Stanley analyst Andrei Stadnik noted any “surprise losses” in Suncorp’s banking division would hurt the stock, alongside higher reinsurance rates hitting its general insurance arm.

“Bottom of cycle bank credit losses are set to rise sharply,” he said, also pointing out he thought Suncorp was the most affected among its insurance rivals by higher reinsurance rates.

Last month, Suncorp disclosed a $133m COVID-19 related provision for loan losses and also impaired the carrying value of its core banking platform.

It’s been a turbulent time for Suncorp’s top team. Mr Johnston took the reins as permanent CEO in September following the exit of former boss Michael Cameron, after some investors failed to support his financial marketplace strategy.

On returning to a technology leadership role Mr Bennett said: “I look forward to working with the technology and business teams to improve the customer experience and deliver on Suncorp’s strategy, leveraging recent investments in digital and data.”

Mr Bennett contributed to CBA’s technology modernisation, including process digitisation.