Bank appoints new chief operating officer
THE new chief operating officer (COO) for BSP says he is excited to come back home to assist the bank’s talented Executive Leadership team with building and growing the company further.
George Barratt’s appointment which comes into effect from January 23 was announced by BSP country head Haroon Ali on Tuesday.
“We are excited to see yet another local talent bringing his international experience back home to serve at the highest level as part of our Fiji Bank Executive Management Team.
“George carries extensive experience in back office operations and project management and is the right fit to implement Fiji’s strategic priorities and rationalise processes with the view to modernise backoffice support to Retail and Corporate SBUs,” said Mr Ali.
“We are proud to have George join the bank at a time when we are focussed on rationalising our support services to improve the frontline customer experience as we strive to further grow our market leading position.”
According to the bank Mr Barratt was born and raised in Suva with family roots in Savusavu and he received his education in Suva Grammar and Samoa’s Robert Louis Stevenson International School before pursuing tertiary studies at Central Queensland University’s Suva Campus.
Mr Barratt has been in the role of Head of Lending Support and Collections at BSP PNG for the past nine years overseeing operations that manages the lending support services for the bank’s corporate and retail businesses.
Mr Ali also acknowledged outgoing COO, William Wakeham who recently retired after having served the local banking industry for almost 47 years.
“We thank William for his contributions to BSP.
“His notable achievements included his unwavering effort in ensuring that there were minimal disruptions to business operations during natural disasters including the unprecedented pandemic, supporting the bank’s transformation projects and other initiatives that he was involved with,” Mr Ali said.