CBA appoints new small-business banking executive

Ms Warren commenced the role in September, stepping into the role after Marcel Klaassen moved to the position of chief operating officer, channels.

She has worked at the major lender for over six years, having most recently held the position of general manager of marketing. Prior to this, she had held the roles of general manager of strategy and transformation and general manager of specialist solutions.

Before joining CBA, Ms Warren spent four years at NAB, including as head of distribution for capital and cash flow solutions. She had also previously been regional business executive for business banking and general manager of equipment finance.

CBA’s group executive for business banking Michael Vacy-Lyle said he was pleased to have Ms Warren take over the “pivotal role” of helping the growth of small businesses.

Mr Vacy-Lyle stated: “Ms Warren brings tremendous expertise and a deep understanding about the needs of small businesses whether you’re starting, running or planning to grow.

“Just as small businesses are focused on providing exceptional customer experiences, Ms Warren and our small-business banking team are passionate about supporting small-business owners with industry-leading digital banking solutions.”

Ms Warren said she will now be focused on delivering “value-added outcomes to help business owners thrive”.

She commented: “We work with customers every day, in branches, via online and our app, helping them to take advantage of opportunities to strengthen their brand, online capabilities, teams and trade.

“Our aim is to remove the stress and complexities of the day-to-day, by making payments and lending easier, faster and more convenient, while helping small-business owners with insights and tools to help them build efficiencies, enhance customer offerings and add real value.

“We know more small-business owners are exploring ways to transform their operations, adopt greener options or expand with new technology and assets.”

CBA broadens reach into business banking

The new appointment comes as the major bank expands its business finance presence, after having recently revealed that its venture-scaling arm x15ventures had entered an agreement to acquire cloud-based invoice lending platform Waddle from Xero.

While the major bank already had an existing partnership with Waddle through its Stream Working Capital product, the acquisition would bring the technology in-house and enable further growth.

CBA noted that the move would help more business customers unlock cash tied up in unpaid invoices by harnessing the digital cash flow solution, which connects to their accounting software (Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks, etc) while “continuing to benefit from the first-class automation and flexibility the Waddle platform is known for”.

[Related: Major bank to acquire invoice lender]