HBOS Australia today announced the appointment of Mr Jamie Ritchie as Head of Rural and Regional for its business division, operating under the BankWest brand.
Mr Ritchie will be based in Melbourne and will have responsibility for BankWest's expanding national agribusiness, which grew 45 per cent in the last year.
Announcing the appointment CEO of Corporate and Business Division Paul Clark said Rural and Regional had been the traditional backbone of BankWest and was an important focus for the division's growth aspirations.
"Jamie has more than 35 years experience in banking and finance, with strong experience in the specialised agribusiness area," Mr Clark said. "He has strong senior management and leadership skills and his experience will add to the depth of knowledge of the senior leadership team as we build our business."
Mr Ritchie's appointment highlights HBOS Australia's determination to continue growing market share on the both the east coast and in its well-established and significant West Australian market by building a strong team of high-calibre, specialised bankers.
"We have recruited more than 100 new managers with specialised industry experience over the last twelve months to help us meet our growth aspirations. We are determined to win customers and their business through a very customer-centric service proposition," Mr Clark said.
"We are continuing to build in-house expertise and understanding of key industry sectors, including agribusiness, a sector we know well and where we have always had considerable expertise and experience," he said.
Mr Ritchie previously held the role of General Manager of Business Banking at Westpac and has also previously held three separate national roles including General Manager of Equipment Finance, General Manager of Regional Banking and General Manager of Business Banking.
Mr Ritchie said he joined BankWest because of its growth opportunities and strong customer focus.
"I'm very excited to be leading a dedicated team which is doing so much to drive competition and change in the agribusiness market," he said.
Mr Ritchie said the bank's east coast market share push in Rural and Regional Australia was fundamental to HBOS Australia's national growth.
"Despite the current dry conditions many parts of Australia are experiencing BankWest's Rural and Regional banking on the east coast has experienced over 100 per cent annual growth for the past two years and this continues in 2006," Mr Ritchie said.
"This success has a lot to do with the fact that we have specialist regional bank managers on board with strong local knowledge and the experience to provide a comprehensive range of financial services to the commercial and agribusiness sectors," he said.
Mr Ritchie said as part of one of the world's largest financial institutions, HBOS plc, BankWest Rural and Regional has the backing, knowledge and expertise to offer innovative, cost efficient and competitive business accounts and loans.
Jamie Ritchie is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Banking and Finance.
