Briefs: RBA appoints chief economist, Westpac expands merchant choice routing, CLSR CEO appointed 08 December 2023 4:41AM Banking Day staff Appointments, RBA, Westpac, Payments, mobile & wallets, Ombudsman services New RBA chief economist Sarah Hunter Senior Treasury official Sarah Hunter will join the Reserve Bank in January as its chief economist and assistant governor (economics). Hunter oversees the analysis of current conditions and economic forecasts at Treasury, advising the government on policy issues. She has previously been the head of macroeconomic conditions at Treasury. She has worked as Australian chief economist at Oxford Economics and as a partner at KPMG in its economics and tax centre. She replaces Luci Ellis, who moved to Westpac this year. Westpac has expanded its merchant choice routing service to online payments. MCR allows merchants to direct contactless debit payments through their preferred payment network – Eftpos or Visa/Mastercard – rather than being routed automatically. The service has been available for in-store contactless payments since 2019 and is currently the default option for new customers on simple pricing plans. David Berry will be the first chief executive of the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort. The CSLR will start receiving claims in April next year. Berry has worked at ANZ, where he was head of credit assessment, and NAB, where his roles included general manager of cards and personal loans. He was a non-executive director of the Consumer Action Law Centre. His most recent role was chief executive of Way Forward Debt Solutions.
