Áine McCleary has been named chief customer officer (CCO) at Bank of Ireland, reporting directly to CEO Myles O’Grady.
The chief customer officer is a brand new group executive committee role whose primary purpose will be to advocate for the customer across the entire Group.
Áine McCleary joined Bank of Ireland in 2000, holding a wide variety of senior roles in global markets and retail banking since then. Between 2018 and 2021 she was Director of Distribution Channels with a team of 3,000 colleagues serving personal and business customers across the branch, contact centre and digital channels.
“With over 4m customers across our national and international footprint, we have a huge influence on our customer’s day-to-day lives and their longer-term future”
Most recently, she played a leadership role in the Group’s acquisition strategy. Áine served as President of the Institute of Banking from 2018 to 2019.
Advocating for the customers
Working with Executive Committee members, as CCO McCleary will primarily be responsible for developing a Groupwide customer strategy to help improve customer attraction, retention, and satisfaction.
“Our purpose is to help customers thrive. Our strategy includes building stronger customer relationships,” said Bank of Ireland CEO Myles O’Grady. “Taken together, this means that every one of us at Bank of Ireland needs to think about the customer in all we say and do. I want to bolster that through the creation of this new role as part of my team.
“Áine will be instrumental in improving the Group’s customer strategy and experience, and further embedding a focus on the customer in all parts of the Group. Áine has a wealth of experience across strategic delivery and customer service and operations, and I know she will be a strong advocate for the customer in this important new role.”
Enhancements to training and development, user and customer experience, and investment in technology will all be considered as part of this strategy.
Group marketing teams – including financial wellbeing initiatives and campaigns, vulnerable customer supports, and customer insights and research – will also feed into the development of this overall strategy.
“It’s an exciting time to take up this role. How customers bank is changing fast, and technology is going to continue to reshape what our sector looks like into the future. There are also some fundamental things that don’t change. Customers need us to be useful, easy to deal with, reasonable, efficient and trustworthy. I want our customers to see those qualities in all of their interactions with us.
“With over 4m customers across our national and international footprint, we have a huge influence on our customer’s day-to-day lives and their longer-term future. Customers, rightly, have high expectations of us. We have made progress in improving customer experience, and we want to do more.”
Main image at top: Bank of Ireland CEO Myles O’Grady with new chief customer officer Áine McCleary
