CBA senior exec leaves after stoush

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s head of marketing, Graham Ford left the group acrimoniously late last week following what is understood to be a rift between himself and his immediate manager, head of retail banking Hugh Harley.

Ford has been unavailable for comment, however sources close to the bank confirmed that there had been conflict between the pair and that Ford’s departure was largely due to a personality clash.

However CBA remains tight-lipped on the departure with general manager media and community Bryan Fitzgerald merely stating that “we can confirm that Graham Ford finished his employment with the Bank on Thursday September 25 2003”, and that the bank has “no further comment” to make.

Harley, who reports directly to chief executive officer David Murray, was appointed to head up CBA’s retail banking division last year after having worked in the area for a number of years. He has been with the group for over 15 years.

Executive general manager group strategic development Tracy Conlan, who had been working in the office of the chief executive officer (OCEO) and reporting to OCEO head Adrian Kosenza, replaces Ford as general manager brand, marketing and information management (effectively head of marketing).

Meanwhile the bank announced in mid-August its new strategy, which will see it slash 3,700 jobs across CBA andColonial First Statebetween July this year and August 2006, with the combined cuts estimated to create a cost saving of $1.5 billion (25 per cent of these job losses have already occurred).

Part of these saving will be ploughed into its wealth management division, with plans to increase its financial planner numbers by 200 over the next 18 months and reduce the number of products offered by the combined CBA/Colonial group.