Tatts CEO Robbie Cooke to join SME banking startup Tyro

As the looming Tatts and Tabcorp bookies merger nears a conclusion, boss of Tatts Robbie Cooke has decided to take on the role of CEO at Tyro, a banking startup based in Sydney.

Set to make the move in March, Cooke will be responsible for leading Australia’s fast-growing business bank through the rest of 2018 and beyond.

He said: “I am very excited to be joining the Tyro team and look forward to continuing Tyro’s unique focus on serving the banking needs of Australia’s small and medium businesses.

“I believe Tyro is very well positioned with its proven track record and custom-built technology platform to better respond to the banking needs of Australia’s SMEs which are the backbone of our economy.”

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Tyro’s growth and achievements to date have been significant. Currently, it serves more than 20,000 SMEs with its own in-house, cloud-based mobile core banking platform. In the last financial year, the company processed more than $10bn in payment transactions generating $121mn in revenue, reflecting 26% year-on-year growth.

Prior to joining Tatts, Cooke served first as COO, and then as Managing Director and CEO, of Wotif.com over a seven-year period. During that time, Wotif.com scaled up significantly, achieved a circa five-fold increase in profits and undertook a successful ASX listing.

Cooke, looking ahead, added: “I am really looking forward to leading the Tyro team through the next exciting stage of its journey and building on its energetic and innovative spirit. As a business bank providing fair, transparent and smart banking solutions in a truly customer-centric way, we have a real opportunity to build on the successes Tyro has achieved to date.”