Commonwealth Bank has appointed Brendan French as EGM Customer Advocacy and Remediation.

He will lead a new unit focused on driving fair outcomes to customer complaints, identifying areas of potential customer concern and ensuring consistent and timely settlement of complaints.

The unit will improve products, processes, systems and decision-making, to deliver better complaint settlement.

Dr French will report to Group Executive Marketing and Strategy Vittoria Shortt.

“We know that many of the most important decisions our customers can make are made in partnership with us – insuring their lives and protecting their family – and we take that responsibility seriously,” Ms Shortt said.

“Our customers are at the centre of everything we do.”

Ms Shortt says the new unit will be centralised and separate from day-to-day running of the bank’s business units.

“Not only will we work internally to improve customers’ experiences, we will also work with government, industry and customer groups to ensure what we do is best practice.”