Peter Lock — CEO Heritage Bank — Talks Banking & Finance, Business Strategy, the Importance of Education, Spotting the Guns & Keeping a Twinkle in Your Eye
Peter Lock is the CEO of Heritage Bank, a national organisation headquartered in Toowoomba in regional Queensland. Heritage is Australia’s largest customer-owned bank and is one steeped in history – Heritage was established in 1875. Peter is a true banking and finance professional, who began his career with the National Australia Bank (NAB). He is a highly experienced senior executive and board adviser with an impressive record of providing strategic and operational business leadership. Throughout his long career he has held roles with a number of Australia’s most prominent banking and finance organisations. He has previously been the CEO of Corporate Banking for the Bank of Melbourne, the Managing Director of Victoria for St. George Bank and the General Manager of Corporate Banking for Commonwealth Bank, to name a few. Peter has a Bachelor of Business and Commerce from the South Australian Institute of Technology, a Masters of Business Administration from the University of South Australia and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Corporate Finance. He is also an Australian Institute of Company Directors Graduate.
The youngest of four siblings, Peter was born in Adelaide and grew up around the beach suburb of Glenelg in the 1970s. His father was a bankruptcy official receiver and a union president; Peter’s family home was one where much political and industrial relations conversation circulated around the kitchen table. He attended Sacred Heart College but wasn’t particularly studious. Upon finishing his secondary schooling, Peter was unsure of what he wanted to do professionally and so secured a clerical job in the oil and gas industry and studied a business degree part-time. A self confessed “late bloomer” and “the office clown,” it wasn’t until five years later Peter undertook his degree full-time and began to seriously seek professional roles. Peter spontaneously applied for a position at NAB, who happened to be hosting interviews on university campus and the rest, as they say, is history. Peter relocated from Melbourne with his wife to assume his role as CEO of Heritage Bank and is enjoying making a home in Toowoomba and being a part of the community.
