Andy Symons rejoins New Zealand’s consulting scene with Accenture
Following a year in industry, Andy Symons has rejoined New Zealand’s consulting scene with Accenture, where he has been tasked with growing its financial services practice.
Appointed a Managing Director, based out of Auckland, Symons brings more than 20 years of financial services, consulting and digital transformation expertise to the firm, with experience both in New Zealand and Australia.
Symons joins Accenture from media organisation Stuff, where he served as its Chief Revenue Officer. Before that, he spent five years at PwC, latterly as the leader of its Financial Services practice across New Zealand.
Previously, Symons held a number of senior leadership roles at both Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) and National Australia Bank (NAB). As Director for Retail Bank at BNZ he was responsible for leading the transformation of the bank’s retail business, store network, direct and sales centres, on-line and mobile, BNZ Insurance and small business bank. At NAB, he led the development of the bank’s enterprise-led design, innovation and digital capabilities.
Symons also served as a Board Director for both Loyalty New Zealand Limited and BNZ Insurance.
Commenting on the appointment, Accenture’s New Zealand Managing Director, Nick Mulcahy, said: “This is a very important hire for us. Andy brings distinguished experience in financial service and innovation. We’re delighted to have him on board.”
Mulcahy added that Symons’ arrival comes at a time of “rapid disruption, change and technology-driven innovation” within the financial service industry.
“The introduction of open banking in the next couple of years will mean further disruption to traditional banking models as well as new opportunities for collaboration. And to remain competitive, banks will be looking to further harness the power of data in the cloud to introduce new, highly personalised digital features for customers while adoption of artificial intelligence will better equip them to deal with fraud,” Mulcahy said.
