ING Bank Australia has appointed Melanie Evans as chief executive, replacing Uday Sareen who will relocate to Europe to become head of wholesale banking for ING Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Evans began her career with a cadetship at St George Bank in 1995 and later joined Westpac’s equities business in 2000.
After moving to BT Financial Group in 2003, she spent a decade in product, brand, marketing, superannuation, platforms and investments leadership roles.
She returned to banking within the Westpac Group as a chief of staff, then went on to lead business units across mortgages, transformation and business banking.
Dr John Laker, ING Bank Australia chair, said the bank had grown to be Australia’s fifth largest main financial institution with a 6% customer market share under Evans’ leadership.
“Melanie is a very experienced banker with a proven track record who will continue to drive ING’s growth and diversification agenda,” Laker said.
“Her appointment is testament to all that Melanie has achieved for the retail bank and its customers.”
Evans said her focus would be to drive the bank’s growth and diversification agenda and it would continue to prioritise customers and team members.
“Our history as Australia’s first fintech, most recommended bank, a trusted brand and for doing things differently will remain front and centre,” Evans said.
“We’re proud of what makes us a modern bank. We exist for our customers – so they can focus on the things that matter to them.”
Laker said Sareen would be leaving behind a highly-successful, customer-focused bank which saw over a million customers join under his leadership.
“Uday was always ambitious in his agenda for Australia and he delivered the results. We congratulate Uday on his new appointment and wish him continued success,” Laker said.
“It’s been a privilege to have worked with Uday. He will be leaving behind a very different bank to the one he joined in 2016.”
Both appointments are effective from 16 November 2020.
