A senior executive with experience ranging across the Netherlands, London and Sydney has joined the Heritage bank team in Toowoomba.
Arjan Bloemer, who started his career with Dutch bank MeesPierson, has been appointed to the role of chief operating officer at the bank.
He has taken over from Kevin Potter, who moved to the chief customer officer role in April.
Originally from Amsterdam, Bloemer was also head of operations at Europe’s first 100% digital bank, BNP Paribas. He then moved into consulting, first in the Netherlands, followed by banking roles with the Royal Bank of Scotland in London and then consulting in Australia with Ernst and Young. He was Managing Director at Accenture Australia from early 2017, before the move to Heritage.
Heritage CEO Peter Lock said, “Arjan brings a wealth of experience to the COO role, particularly in digital banking and in retail banking transformation projects. He is a welcome addition to our senior executive group.”
Bloemer said he was excited about the opportunities that were open to Heritage Bank.
He added, “My career focus has been on major retail banking transformation projects. This has included implementing robotics, artificial intelligence tools, chatbots and Six Sigma Process optimisation.
“There are real opportunities to use my expertise to help deliver a better experience for customers at Heritage.
“What particularly attracted me to this role were the people and the culture at Heritage. Everyone is absolutely committed to the best interests of the customers, and willing to do things differently to deliver a better outcome. It’s a really positive and upbeat environment.”
Bloemer will be based at Heritage’s Head Office in Toowoomba and will be moving there from Sydney with his wife and three teenage children.
“Before coming to Australia we lived in a smaller city quite similar to Toowoomba. We’re really looking forward to being part of such a great community,” he said.
