New Westpac chief executive Peter King says the bank will look for businesses that can bounce back quickly on the other side of the COVID-19 crisis as it fields tens of thousands of requests for leniency from customers.

After being appointed to run the bank for the next two years by Westpac chairman John McFarlane yesterday, Mr King said it was the state of the individual business, not the sector in which they operated, that would decide how quickly they could bounce back.