Siobhan Toohill’s first thought was to run for the exit at Westpac after the financial crime regulator revealed that one of its products had been used to facilitate online sexual exploitation of children.Siobhan Toohill, Westpac’s chief sustainability officer, is leaving Westpac to pursue a new challenge. “Challenging times can present the greatest opportunities for impact,” she says.
“This whole space of sustainability and climate – she’s been a leader in it for some time. She’s really had to forge new ground and she’s got leadership across the industry, with APRA, with regulators. She’s quite unique in what she’s done. It’s breaking barriers.” Jo Boundy, CBA chief marketing officer, Nell Hutton, Westpac chief executive of Institutional, Siobhan Toohill, Westpac chief sustainability officer and Haseda Fazlic, CBA executive general manager, commercial.In 2022, Westpac became the first bank to officially rule out funding new oil and gas projects unless they’re required for energy security purposes.
“But also, you need to think about it in terms of that opportunity around protecting nature that will actually contribute benefits to different sectors as well,” she says. “These kinds of sustainability roles require time, dedication, and then you’ve got to know when it’s time to step out when you feel like your piece’s done, and that’s kind of how I feel about where I’ve got to with Westpac.”Another leader in the Banking category, Tammy Medard, is ANZ’s head of institutional banking for Australia and Papua New Guinea.
She says the COVID-19 pandemic put many of those relationships to the test, and forced her to hone her leadership and think about the ways in which she had always used her empathetic nature to the bank’s advantage.