Kiwi to sort out Australian bank
National Australia Bank has appointed New Zealander Ross McEwan as its new chief executive.
He is the latest in several appointments of top Kiwi talent to the banks that dominate the New Zealand and Australian scene.
The reported that McEwan won the job ahead of internal candidate Anthony Healy.
The appointment comes as the NAB tries to come to grips with misconduct in its ranks.
McEwan takes over from dual New Zealand-Australia citizen Andrew Thorburn who recently resigned along with chairman Ken Henry.
They were named in a royal commission report as failing to understand the problems within NAB, which also owns BNZ.
McEwan’s previous job was chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland for six years, and he has previously worked at Commonwealth Bank.
The new chairman of NAB, Phil Chronican, said McEwan’s ‘‘compelling range of experience’’ made him an ideal leader as the bank reformed its culture to focus on its customers.
The Royal Bank of Scotland had gone through similar challenges.
McEwan was reported as saying he would accelerate the NAB’s transformation in line with community expectations of high accountability and transparency in the banking industry.
He beat former BNZ chief executive Healey to the job.
Other New Zealanders who have led major banks include Sir Ralph Norris who received accolades for as chief executive at ASB, and later went to Commonwealth Bank. He resigned as chairman of Fletcher Building in February 2018 after the company posted significant losses.
Another Kiwi bank high flier was Ian Narev, who was chief executive of Commonwealth Bank until early 2018 when he retired early and forfeited bonus payments of millions of dollars following a money-laundering scandal that occurred under his watch.