Published on the 10/04/2014 | Written by Newsdesk

Three of Australia’s four major banks have switched CIOs in the last three months – but regular tech-talent turnover is nothing new at the top of the tree…

Enterprise level CIOs should expect their tenure to last four to five years before they want or need to switch. The flux currently being seen in Australia’s banking sector where three out of the four big banks have switched CIO in the last few months is nothing out of the ordinary according to Tony Rossano, senior client partner at global search firm Korn Ferry.

While Rossano declined to comment on whether he was involved in the global search currently underway for a new CIO for ANZ Bank, Westpac and Westpac New Zealand, citing client confidentiality, he said that the change of the guard in the financial sector seemed to be “part of the cycle, nothing beyond”.

Last week ANZ announced Anne Weatherston was leaving the CIO role; Ernst & Young partner David Boyle took on the NAB CIO job earlier this year; and CIO Clive Whincup left Westpac for Woolworths in February. In New Zealand Westpac last month announced a global search for someone to take on the newly merged COO/CIO executive level position.

Among Australia’s four major banks this leaves Michael Harte, who this month marks his eighth year as CIO of Commonwealth Bank, as the last man standing. Rossano acknowledged Harte’s longer than usual tenure, but said that he had a broader corporate role than purely being the bank’s CIO.

Rossano said that generally CIOs “stress-tested” their contribution and commitment to a role every four or five years. “A senior executive sets a medium-term strategic goal and then looks at the next stage of the journey and asks if it still makes sense (for them to stay),” said Rossano.

Over the same time period the CIO had to negotiate strategic changes planned by the enterprise which might no longer align with their skills or experience.

Rossano said that there was a balance to be struck between “what the organisation needs and what the individual wants”.

He said that this four to five year tenure had barely changed over the 16 years he has held his role at Korn Ferry, sourcing CIOs across Asia Pacific. However he noted that during that time “the CIO role has shifted toward customer centricity and outcomes delivered, and is less about technical brilliance”.

“The commerciality of the role makes it less about protecting legacy and more about the future. This requires a shifting set of skills and broader commerciality.”