NAB boss to stay in lane
National Australia Bank’s new chief executive Andrew Irvine has backed away from any “moonshot” bets as outgoing boss Ross McEwan warned banks faced dangers if they crept outside core strategy.
The finance giant revealed Mr McEwan would retire from the bank on April 2, after almost five years heading up the Melbournebased lender.
Mr Irvine has been appointed to replace Mr McEwan after a stint running NAB’s business lending arm after joining the bank three years ago.
His immediate focus would be “listening” to NAB’s staff and customers, flagging no big changes.
He said NAB had to remain “relevant” to its customers, noting as long as the bank remained close to its customers it would prosper.
“There’s not many big moonshots, all the time in this it’s about doing the basics really well,” he said.
“We’re very much focused on continuing to do that better and better every day.”
Mr McEwan said NAB had done well by being “very clear about where we’re investing money”.
“I’ve been somewhat dogmatic about staying in the swim lanes, it’s worked well for us,” he said.
“The success for us has been staying focused, that’s the danger for banks. They start doing things outside those swim lanes and find they’re not as successful as it should have been.”
Mr McEwan, who took over at NAB in July 2019, is credited as stabilising the lender in the wake of a management exodus after the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.
The Hayne royal commission, which saw its five-year anniversary on February 1, made searing findings about NAB’s then chair and CEO after highlighting failures at the lender.