NatWest Group has appointed a new chief data and analytics officer to drive its extensive digital transformation, backed by a £1.2bn technology investment, which is ushering in a data-driven approach to deliver hyper-personalisation and AI at scale across its 20 million customers.
Triona O’Keeffe will join in January from the London Stock Exchange Group, where she has been chief information officer for data and analytics since July 2021. She will report directly to group CIO Scott Marcar.
O’Keeffe started her career as a consultant at LogicaCMG in 1992 before switching to Man Investments in 2005. She then spent five years at Deutsche Bank as CIO and had a similar spell at Direct Line Group and also the London Stock Exchange Group.
She succeeds Zachery Anderson, who left in September 2025 after more than five and a half years in the job. NatWest’s head of data transformation, Karen Dewar, who has been with the bank for over 18 years, has been handling the role on an interim basis.
In terms of advertising, NatWest’s brand platform, Tomorrow Begins Today, was created by T&P in 2020, to inspire the nation to take action today for a better tomorrow. Its most recent execution (pictured) reflected the frustrations of a generation locked out of home ownership and the relief of finally holding the keys.
Earlier this year, NatWest revealed it was “quietly transforming from the inside out” following the £1.2bn investment in tech, data, and AI transformation.
Detailing the bank’s digital overhaul in a blog post, Marcar said that “simplification across the business” had freed £100m in investment capacity over 2025, with AI and continued cloud migration being central to these savings.
In particular, Marcar highlighted the bank’s push to streamline its wealth of customer data to build a “single, connected view of each customer”, a shift he said will cut friction within everyday banking, deliver a smoother onboarding experience, and anticipate the needs of customers.
Commenting on O’Keefe’s appointment, Marcar said: “Triona brings a depth of expertise across technology and financial services, which will be invaluable as we continue to strengthen our technology foundations and scale our use of data and AI to improve experiences for customers and colleagues.”
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