Beyond Bank Australia chair Sam Andersen says it’s an unexpected but valued honour to be made a FINSIA Senior Fellow. Sam is among FINSIA’s 2024 Senior Fellow cohort.
Having started her career in banking, she used her formative years as a springboard into a variety of interesting roles across many industries, and banking remains a core activity. She values the professional skills and experience gained from her early career in banking and finance.
“Being made a Senior Fellow is a great acknowledgement. Banking is a professional endeavour which is critically important to our society and the people in it. Without this essential service, people cannot grow wealth via leverage, which is why good bankers provide an extraordinary service. I'm really proud to have been one,” she says.
Sam’s career in banking came about by accident.
“I started out with a law degree and at the time, I really didn't know what I wanted to be, but it wasn't a lawyer. After I finished my degree, I was fortunate to join NAB’s graduate training program,” she says.
This gave Sam the opportunity to experience a range of roles within banking, starting out as a teller, before moving into positions such as ledger clerk and loans officer.
“It gave me great joy to write a customer’s first car loan because they needed a car to get to work. Writing someone’s first home loan, helping them buy a home to live in, is a really big thrill,” she says.
Moving to Melbourne, Sam’s stint in banking took her into corporate finance for large organisations. She then spent nearly a decade involved in large, corporate loan workouts for NAB, Citibank and CBA.
“I became fascinated with financial statements, the stories they tell about business and how finance professionals can help businesses succeed” she explains.
Sam was working in corporate lending during the 1987 stock market crash and the early 1990s’ recession, before moving into the then-emerging area of digital banking.
“I moved into M&A for the ANZ.com business, which was new to us all then, and we had to work out what new models might work for a digital offering, what customers wanted and how to deliver it,” she says.
The evolving space of banking
Sam says it’s been interesting to see so many of those early ideas become everyday digital banking features 20 years later.
“Working in banking gave me an opportunity to experience a myriad of disciplines, including digital and technology, retail banking, treasury and all facets of credit and risk management from the top to the bottom of the spectrum, all of which added to the breadth of my experience," she says.
In the early 2000s, Sam moved away from banking and into consulting, helping new digital ventures raise capital. She has been able to bring her banking experience into a diverse range of subsequent roles, including time as a CFO working on ASX floats, and being CEO of an ASX listed optometry company. She has also worked with the public sector and in funds management.
Now, the bulk of Sam’s professional time is spent on non-executive director roles.
“I have leveraged the finance, audit and risk experience I gained in banking in all my subsequent roles,” she says. Now Sam has a portfolio career spanning boards in financial services, agriculture research and commercialisation, large registries, sustainable packaging and justice.
Outside her professional obligations, Sam enjoys spending time with her family and friends, with art an enduring interest as her husband is an art dealer.
Sam’s advice to younger bankers wanting to make the most of their experience is to take a broad view of where you want your career to go and be willing to step through open doors into unknown challenges.
“Make sure you get lots of experience in a broad range of roles in organisations that value you and have a purpose. I couldn’t recommend a career in banking more; it can take you anywhere,” she says.