NAB Overhauls Executive Bench as Technology Chief and COO Both Head for Exit
NAB Overhauls Executive Bench as Technology Chief and COO Both Head for Exit #
National Australia Bank has announced the departure of two senior executives, its technology chief and its chief operating officer, as CEO Andrew Irvine reshapes the bank’s top leadership structure.
Patrick Wright, Group Executive for Technology and Enterprise Operations since joining NAB in 2017, will step down from the Executive Leadership Team on 30 September 2026. He will then move into a special adviser role supporting Irvine before leaving the organisation in the first half of 2027. Chief Operating Officer Les Matheson, who joined NAB about five years ago, will retire at the end of September.
NAB is not recruiting externally to fill either role. Instead, it is redistributing responsibilities across existing executives, reducing the size of the group executive team by one. Pete Steel, who joined NAB in mid-2025 after senior roles at Commonwealth Bank and Lloyds Banking Group in the UK, will expand his mandate as Group Executive for Digital, Data and AI to take on technology leadership, becoming Group Executive for Technology and AI. Shane Conway, currently Group Executive for Transformation, will absorb Matheson’s operational portfolio and be retitled Group Executive for Transformation and Operations.
According to iTnews, the changes make NAB the last of Australia’s “Big 4” banks to undergo a technology executive transition, part of an industry-wide shift toward structuring technology roles around artificial intelligence and digital transformation rather than traditional infrastructure management.
Two additional changes were announced alongside the departures. Ana Marinkovic, Group Executive for Personal Banking, will take on accountability for Ubank, NAB’s digital banking brand. Group General Counsel Jon Benson, appointed to the role in 2025, will join the Executive Leadership Team from 1 October 2026.
Irvine credited both outgoing executives with contributions to the bank’s modernisation efforts. Wright oversaw a multi-year transformation of NAB’s technology operations during his nearly nine years at the bank. The structural changes take effect at the end of September, subject to regulatory approvals.
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