A new role has been created at the Cumberland building society to help with its transformation and investment in the future.
Ian Stacey, a leading innovator in the finance sector, has been appointed as chief information officer, responsible for the strategic planning around The Cumberland’s major investment programme in digital technology.
Ian has 36 years’ experience in banking and finance transformation with organisations including Barclays, EY and KPMG and most recently helped to establish two UK challenger banks.
He will be responsible for leading the technology and data agenda at The Cumberland and will help to deliver its major investment programme in digital technology and transformation.
Ian said: “When I first spoke with The Cumberland’s chief executive, Des Moore, I really liked his energy and enthusiasm for taking the business to the next stage of its evolution.
“A transformation of this scale requires complete commitment from whole organisation and to know the board and executive are leading from the front, making this The Cumberland’s number one priority, is exactly the kind of leadership team I want to join.”
“Most financial services companies can’t do what The Cumberland is proposing because the scale is too big or the transformation is too complex requiring them to take components out of their spaghetti of technology and gradually replace them.
“It takes them longer or they may just digitise part of the bank. So to hear Des talk about this complete transformation and to find a company willing to do that is really exciting.”
Ian believes that technology will help both Cumberland customers and colleagues. For customers it might be a question of better functionality on The Cumberland website and mobile app or more personalised products.
For colleagues it will mean a seamless flow of information that will streamline tasks such as mortgage applications or help them make quicker decisions for their customers. They will also be able to access the same information safely and securely whether they are in a branch, working at home or the head office in Carlisle.
He added: “For me getting the proposition right is all about customer service. A Which survey showed recently that The Cumberland, together with a number of the new digital banks, are out-performing by multiples their larger counterparts like Barclays and HSBC on customer service.
“If we can get the tech proposition right, add this to the excellent customer service we already offer and build on this by giving people the right tools then we will have a phenomenal opportunity to elevate our reputation and performance to even higher levels.”
