Bridget Messer has been appointed Chief Risk Officer at Suncorp, effective early next year.

The change comes after the promotion of Fiona Thompson, who was CRO for five years, to a new Group Executive, People, Culture & Advocacy role in June. Ms Messer will be a member of Suncorp’s Executive Leadership team and will relocate from the UK to Brisbane. Stuart Cameron will remain acting CRO until her arrival.

Ms Messer has extensive experience in management, law, and regulation and compliance, and has spent 16 years at trading platform IG Group Holdings where she was most recently Executive Director and Chief Commercial Officer and previously held Global Head of Compliance and General Counsel roles. She was formerly a solicitor at Deutsche Bank.

“As a Queenslander, the iconic Suncorp brand is very familiar to me and I am looking forward to returning home to work with teams across the business to continue to embed a strong rigour and focus on managing risk,” she said.

Suncorp CEO Steve Johnston says Ms Messer’s background in digital, technology and financial services will be invaluable, and she brought deep commercial experience and a global perspective after leading teams across multiple geographies.

“Ensuring we have strong risk oversight, culture and strategy remains critical as we navigate today’s regulatory environment and as Suncorp focuses on digital and technology-led growth,” Mr Johnston said.