Big agenda: Phil Chronican has his work cut out for NAB revival

NAB’s acting CEO Philip Chronican will oversee a ‘big agenda’ of reforms but says the bank has a clear strategy.

Phil Chronican says NAB remains a strong organisation

National Australia Bank’s acting chief executive Philip Chronican will oversee a “big agenda” of reforms as he declares the bank has a clear strategy and remains a strong organisation.

Mr Chronican said that in addition to the search for a permanent chief executive, NAB was focused on board renewal.

His comments follow an extraordinary week for NAB which saw the exit of chief executive Andrew Thorburn and a promise to retire by chairman Ken Henry after both were singled out for stinging criticism in the final report of the Hayne royal commission.

In his findings, commissioner Kenneth Hayne said he was not as confident as he would like to be that the bank had learnt the lessons of the past or that it was willing to accept responsibility for doing the right thing.

Mr Chronican said he planned to make the organisation better for customers.

“We’ve got a big agenda ahead. On top of the commitment we had made under our accelerated ‘One NAB Plan’ strategy we’ve got a template for reform of the industry in the royal commission and its 76 recommendations,” he said.

“And we have a template for improvement in our performance through the self-assessment we prepared for the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, which we published last year, which sets out a comprehensive reform program for how we want to operate to make our organisation a better one for customers.”

This is the third of the big four banks Mr Chronican has worked for in a senior capacity. Through a career spanning three decades he served as chief financial officer at Westpac under then chief executive David Morgan and also held various line roles including institutional banking head. At the time Mr Chronican was regarded as the internal frontrunner to succeed Mr Morgan as chief executive, but in 2008 the role went to outsider Gail Kelly, who had been heading St George Bank.

Mr Chronican joined ANZ as the head of the Melbourne-based bank’s Australian operations from 2009 until February 2015, and had responsibility for ANZ’s retail and commercial bank. He joined NAB as a director in 2016.

Mr Chronican noted it had been an “extraordinarily difficult week” for NAB, from the criticism in the final report to losing its two most senior roles.

“All I can say is that, while these issues have weighed heavily on us, it’s hugely gratifying that at the core we have an organisation with a very clear strategy and one that’s being well executed,” he said.

“That will be evident … where the performance is on track.”

As well as launching an internal and external search for a new chief executive, Mr Chronican said NAB was planning to boost its boardroom ranks.

“With my stepping into an executive role temporarily, that’s further taking away resources from the board. So we’re recognising in this that we’ve got a big job as we look for directors to add to the board strength.”

Names tipped to be included a potential external candidate list for the top job at NAB include Medibank CEO and former NAB finance chief Craig Drummond, Westpac’s institutional bank boss Lyn Cobley, Royal Bank of Scotland CEO and former Commonwealth Bank executive Ross McEwan, and Westpac customer chief and former NAB executive George Frazis.

Internally, NAB business banking boss Anthony Healy and customer boss and former NSW premier Mike Baird are said to be the frontrunners.