CUA names 30-year ANZ veteran as new CEO

Bernard Kellerman
Credit Union Australia, the country's largest customer-owned financial institution, has announced that Rob Goudswaard, an experienced banker, will take over from Chris Whitehead as its chief executive officer from 2 February 2015.

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An announcement from CUA notes that Goudswaard (pictured, left) has worked in various senior executive positions at the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group over an extensive career, including work overseas as ANZ's country head for the Solomon Islands, general manager, Oman for ANZ Grindlays Bank and senior marketing manager, Grindlays Bahrain Bank.

Most recently, he was CEO and director of the Rural Finance Corporation of Victoria. During Goudswaard's four years in charge, the business grew its profit by over 50 per cent and had over A$1.7 billion in loans to Victorian farmers.

He is currently a Director of World Vision Australia, a role he will continue after joining CUA.

Goudswaard's expertise in banking will be an invaluable asset to CUA as it strives to become more like a bank, while remaining a credit union.

In fact, when announcing the new CEO appointment, CUA's chairman Alan Beanland contended that CUA was well-placed to compete against the banks in the coming years, based on its new core banking system, and "… a clear focus on its role as a modern mutual in the financial services sector."

Outgoing CEO Mr Chris Whitehead has led CUA since 2009.  It was announced in August that Mr Whitehead planned to stand down at the appropriate time, once the Board had identified a suitable candidate to replace him.