Compare Club hires tech chiefs for AI-led platform

Compare Club has appointed Benoit Garnaud as Chief Product & Technology Officer and Bobby Singh as Technology Executive - AI, & Technology Advisory, completing Chief Executive Officer Emma Fawcett's revised leadership team.

The appointments come as the company develops an AI-led platform designed to monitor household bills, identify savings opportunities and alert customers when a better deal becomes available. The aim is to make its existing Club+ member service more proactive by reducing the need for customers to repeatedly shop around for products such as utilities, broadband, loans and insurance.

Based in Australia, Compare Club employs more than 300 staff and says it already serves millions of consumers across products including life cover, home and car loans, utilities, broadband and travel insurance. Club+ allows members to store household bills, receive alerts on alternative offers and get help switching providers.

Fawcett said the appointments form part of a broader push to change how the comparison business operates.

“We have a huge opportunity in front of us. Compare Club already has the trust, the customer relationships, the data and the human expertise. Now we're building the technology capability to bring all of those things together in a completely different way,” said Emma Fawcett, Chief Executive Officer, Compare Club.

She said both hires bring experience in technology development and the application of AI in consumer services.

“Benoit and Bobby bring extraordinary experience in building technology products, transforming large organisations and, importantly, understanding how AI can be applied to solve real problems for real customers.

I'm excited about what this means for Compare Club and, ultimately, for Australian households. The idea that one day you could effectively stop worrying about whether you're overpaying because Compare Club is watching out for you is incredibly powerful.

We're not claiming we can do all of that today. But that is the direction we're heading in, and I think the possibilities are enormous,” Fawcett said.

Garnaud joins with more than two decades of experience across product, technology, payments and financial services. His previous roles include positions at Prezzee, Humm Group, Citibank and American Express.

At Prezzee, he led the creation of PrezzeePay, taking the payments business from concept to launch while overseeing its payments platform, digital wallet and route to market. At Compare Club, his remit will include product and technology strategy, development of Club+, and the expansion of its product and engineering teams.

He described the company's direction as a response to a longstanding problem in consumer finance.

“We're flipping the model upside down to tackle the biggest customer pain point: inertia. By building an AI-native platform, we reimagine personal finance by proactively delivering the insights consumers need, continuously scanning the market for better deals, and seamlessly handling the entire switching process,” said Benoit Garnaud, Chief Product & Technology Officer, Compare Club.

“AI unlocks a unique opportunity for Compare Club to leverage its years of data and many partnerships to create experiences that solve real consumer problems,” Garnaud said.

Singh brings more than 25 years of experience spanning banking, energy, government, transport, media and health insurance. His previous roles include senior positions at ANZ, NAB and Australia Post, and he also founded technology consultancy Momenton, which grew to more than 75 staff before it was acquired.

At Compare Club, he will focus on commercial uses of AI and on linking technology spending to operational and customer outcomes. The company is using AI across its web, mobile and Club+ services, while also applying the technology internally in sales, service and operations.

Those internal uses include routine processes where efficiency and member experience can be measured. The company said human oversight would remain part of the advice model.

“AI should solve real problems for real households, not be another technology in search of a problem,” said Bobby Singh, Technology Executive - AI, & Technology Advisory, Compare Club.

“We're applying AI right across the business, from smarter conversations and voice agents through to how we run our operations and how we work. Every initiative has to earn its place with measurable results, and compliance is engineered in: clear guardrails, with AI doing more of the deterministic work over time while our people make the judgement calls. A human is always accountable for the guidance our members receive,” Singh said.

The company's longer-term goal is to move beyond the standard comparison model, where customers revisit a site when they suspect they are paying too much. Instead, it wants to build a system that tracks changes in a customer's circumstances and in the wider market, then prompts action when a bill is no longer competitive.

That could eventually cover areas such as electricity, insurance and other recurring household expenses. Compare Club said the model would combine AI tools with human support rather than replace staff-led guidance.

Fawcett said the comparison sector has relied for years on repeated customer engagement, but argued that the next phase would be more continuous.

“The comparison industry has spent years asking Australians to come back and compare again,” Fawcett said.

“We think the future is different. We want Compare Club to become the partner that is already there, looking after your household finances in the background.

Imagine never having to think about a bill again. That's the ambition,” Fawcett said.