Westpac appoints BCG Australia's co-founder Colin Carter
Banking institution Westpac has installed an independent Advisory Panel, tasked with reviewing Board risk governance and accountability. Colin Carter, one of the founding partners of Boston Consulting Group in Australia, is one of the three members.
The panel comes in response to findings by government agency AUSTRAC, which found inadequacies in Westpac’s Financial Crime Program. “We are determined to deal with shortcomings in our financial crime processes in a comprehensive and durable manner,” said Chairman Lindsay Maxsted in mid-December.
The trio of external advisors – Colin Carter, Kerry Schott and Ziggy Switkowski – have been tasked with making recommendations on how Westpac can improve its ailing risk governance, financial crime and anti-money laundry processes. “We look forward to receiving the findings of the Advisory Panel’s review. It will be an important input to our work to raise standards and fix any gaps in Westpac’s financial crime-related processes,” said Maxsted.
Switkowski, an Officer of the Order of Australia, is a former Chairman of Suncorp Group, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation and of Opera Australia. Schott was Managing Director and CEO of Sydney Water from 2006 to 2011. Before that, she spent 15 years as an investment banker.
Colin Carter
Carter meanwhile stood at the foundation of one of the leading strategy and management consulting firms in Australia. He is one of the founding partners of Boston Consulting Group (BCG), retiring as a Senior Partner in 2001, but still is an advisor with the firm. He has over 30 years of experience in management consulting, advising on organisational strategy and governance issues.
During his career, he has delivered dozens of major projects in Australia and overseas, and more recently carried out Board performance reviews for a number of companies. Since 2012, he is an independent Non- Executive director at Lendlease.
Today, Boston Consulting Group in Australia generates revenues of just under $400 million.
