Westpac tech tsar blasts portability plan

Beverley Head
Friday, 24 June 2011 16:37

Business IT - Technology

With just days to go before Bernie Fraser is due to hand the Government his report on the feasibility of bank account number portability, Westpac chief information officer Bob McKinnon has blasted the notion - saying it would force financial institutions to dismantle their current information systems and introduce 'horrific costs,' for the banks.

Speaking at a CEDA lunch in Sydney today Mr McKinnon said that account details such as BSB numbers and account numbers; 'Are built into the DNA of technology of every bank.'

'You could solve the problem but it would come at a horrific cost,' he said, adding that the UK abandoned a similar attempt after realising the extent of the changes required.

While clearly opposed to the introduction of number portability, on the issue of online security Mr McKinnon said he supported proposals that companies be mandated to reveal when their information systems had been compromised. At present in Australia companies do not have to reveal if they have experienced a security breach.

During the Q&A session following the lunch Nick Abrahams, a partner at law firm Norton Rose, asked Mr McKinnon whether he supported a US style mandated disclosure regime being introduced to Australia.  Mr McKinnon said 'In terms of the principles, I think it's absolutely important to know when your personal and private information has been compromised.'

'Cybercrime is scary and often sanctioned by particular nation states,' he said.

In a wide ranging speech Mr McKinnon also provided an update of the progress the bank is making with its technology transformation. He said by the end of the year the bank will have spent almost $500 million improving service management and stabilising technology. He said that when he joined the bank in 2008 'organisationally technology had become the dysfunctional poor cousin,' in the bank.