Scott Wall - CTO Bank Australia

Scott Wall has spent 30 years in banking technology, from derivatives trading at Bankers Trust in London, to leading transformation at Barclays, Deutsche Bank, ANZ, and now Bank Australia. In this episode, he pulls back the curtain on what it actually takes to merge two complete technology stacks, why he left the big banks for the mutual sector, and how a 200-question ASIC survey reshaped his AI strategy. Bank Australia merged with Qudos Bank in July 2024. Now Scott has two of everything; two core banking systems, two CRMs, two finance platforms, two digital experience layers. His job: consolidate them safely and quickly while minimising impact on customers and staff. He shares the playbook — measure twice, cut once, build merger muscle through smaller acquisitions first, and leverage strategic partners like Data Action, Cuscal, and Indu. Scott makes the case for decoupled, API-first architecture over monolithic systems. The goal: best of breed solutions that are tightly integrated but loosely coupled, so you can swap out any component without a hostage situation. He explains why the age of your core banking code matters less than your relationship with the vendor , and why GenAI can write the COBOL anyway. On AI, he's candid about readiness. ASIC's Report 798 was a wake-up call: governance, risk frameworks, and controls need to be in place before you flip the switch. The use cases he's prioritising, knowledge bots, call summarisation, automated compliance reviews, all keep a human in the loop. And on cyber: "There's now more money being made out of cyber-related crime than the drugs industry." Organised gangs using AI agents to orchestrate simultaneous attacks. Behavioural analytics that can detect when a customer is being coached through a scam. The arms race is accelerating. Scott closes with a five-year view that should make every banker pay attention: digital twins, open banking action initiation, and the disintermediation risk. Banks become product factories. The moat? You'll have to listen