ITWire

The continued erosion of the CIO-CEO connection in Australia's four major banks is a disturbing trend, with the potential to limit CIOs' ability to influence decision making if their recommendations to chief executives had first to percolate through 'filters of ignorance or misunderstanding.'

Westpac has announced that its high profile chief information officer Bob McKinnon is stepping back from his full time group executive role and will no longer be the bank's chief information officer. The news comes less than a fortnight after the bank took steps to axe 188 IT positions as part of a major shakeup.

Less than a week after Westpac managing director Gail Kelly announced that the bank was planning to move to a 'best sourcing' model the bank has announced to the Financial Services Union that it's slashing 188 jobs as a result of a restructure of the IT department.