Westpac has appointed Peter Hanlon as the new group executive for people and transformation.

Mr Hanlon, previously the group executive for retail and business banking, has been under fire lately from clients and politicians who had objected to the Australian financial services firm's decision to raise interest rates a couple of weeks back. The company had increased rates by 45 basis points, twice that of the Reserve Bank, blaming high wholesale funding expenditure.

In his new role, Mr Hanlon will be tasked to modernise the firm's technology systems and streamline client and sustainability issues resulting from this year's merger with St George Bank.

His old position will be taken over by Rob Coombe, the head of wealth management and head of Westpac's subsidiary BT Financial. Brad Cooper will then take Mr Coombe's place as the new chief executive of BT Financial.

"We have established a multi-brand business model with the successful merger with St George, and we have built a strong one-team culture. The next phase of our transformation lies in significantly strengthening our focus on customers, people, and productivity," said Gail Kelly, Westpac's CEO, in a statement.

All three appointments take effect in 1 February 2010.