Move signals bank's plan to expand machine learning capabilities across operations
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has announced the appointment of Ranil Boteju to the newly created position of chief AI officer, effective early 2026.
The appointment comes as the major bank seeks to accelerate its deployment of advanced technologies across customer-facing services and internal systems.
In July, CBA said it eliminated 45 positions from its call centre operations due to artificial intelligence automation. Though representing a small fraction of its workforce exceeding 40,000 employees, the redundancies marked the first public acknowledgement by the nation's largest of the Big Four lenders that job reductions were directly attributable to AI implementation.
Boteju currently holds the position of group chief data and analytics officer at Lloyds Banking Group in London, where he oversees AI, data and machine learning operations. Under his leadership, Lloyds launched more than 50 generative AI projects and improved its position in the 2025 Evident AI Index by 12 places. His team comprises over 2,000 professionals responsible for data-driven transformation initiatives.
Boteju's appointment at CBA marks his return to Australia after 15 years abroad. Before joining Lloyds in 2021, he worked in senior roles across Standard Chartered and HSBC in Singapore and Hong Kong, accumulating more than 25 years of experience in data science, analytics and organisational transformation.
CBA currently ranks fourth globally in artificial intelligence capability, according to the 2025 Evident AI Index, reflecting sustained investment in technology and talent acquisition. The bank serves approximately 18 million customers across Australia and internationally.
"CBA is focused on bringing together world-class talent, technology and partnerships that help us deliver on our strategy of building tomorrow's bank today," said Matt Comyn, chief executive officer at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
"As we scale to deliver even greater value from AI for our customers and our people, Ranil's global leadership in harnessing AI and data will be instrumental."
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