George Barratt is BSP’s new COO

George Barratt is the new Bank South Pacific Chief Operating Officer.

Barratt took up his new role on Monday.

He has been in the role of Head of Lending Support and Collections at BSP PNG for the last nine years overseeing operations that manage the lending support services for the bank’s Corporate and Retail businesses.

BSP Country Head Haroon Ali says they are excited to see yet another local talent bringing his international experience back home to serve at the highest level as part of their Fiji Bank Executive Management Team.

He says Barratt carries extensive experience in back-office operations and project management and is the right fit to implement Fiji’s strategic priorities and rationalise processes with the view to modernise back-office support to Retail and Corporate SBUs.

He adds Barratt is a passionate banker with an excellent professional career ranging from Retail and Commercial Banking, International Operations and more recently, special projects such as the successful deployment of the Core Banking Replacement Project in Vanuatu, the acquisition of Westpac branches across the Pacific and assisting the operations team as a whole.

He also worked for Westpac Fiji and Westpac PNG before joining BSP PNG. The BSP Country Head says he is excited to come back home to assist the Bank’s talented Executive Leadership team with building and growing the company further.

Born and raised in Suva with family roots in Savusavu, Barratt received his education at Suva Grammar School and Samoa’s Robert Louis Stevenson International School before pursuing tertiary studies at Central Queensland University’s Suva Campus.

Ali says they are proud to have Barratt join the Bank at a time when they are focused on rationalising their support services to improve the frontline customer experience as they strive to further grow their market-leading position.

The Bank’s Country Head also acknowledged outgoing COO, William Wakeham who recently retired after having served the local banking industry for almost 47 years.

Ali says they thank Wakeham for his contributions to BSP and his notable achievements included his unwavering effort in ensuring that there were minimal disruptions to business operations during natural disasters including the unprecedented pandemic, supporting the Bank’s transformation projects and other initiatives that he was involved with.