A colleague at National Australia Bank once told this column that Ross McEwan had a superpower: “The ability to ask the obvious, simple question and not get distracted by the 10 per cent of complexity.”

Having been appointed NAB chief executive amid the bank’s post-royal commission crisis, McEwan restored the market’s faith in NAB by preaching a back-to-basics approach: simplify the bank, look after customers, care for staff, and the rest will take care of itself.