Former CBA executive Ross McEwan a possible successor to Ian Narev

Former top CBA executive Ross McEwan has been identified as a potential successor to departing boss Ian Narev.

Ross McEwan, pictured when he was head of retail banking at CBA.

The New Zealand-born boss of Royal Bank of Scotland is in the running to head the Australian lender he worked for before joining the UK taxpayer-backed bank five years ago.

Ross McEwan has been identified as a potential successor to Ian Narev as chief executive of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, six years after he missed out on the top job, prompting him to leave and become head of retail banking at RBS.

A beauty parade is under way for headhunting firms pitching for the contract to find Mr Narev’s replacement. Mr McEwan, 60, has been identified as one of the leading contenders to replace the 50-year-old when he leaves next year, according to the Financial Times.

Shares of RBS, which did not comment, were among the leading fallers on the FTSE 100 with news of Mr McEwan’s potential defection, leaving the stock down 3 and a half pence at 244 and a half pence.

Since taking over as chief executive of RBS four years ago, Mr McEwan has attempted to guide the bank back to profitability. After failing to make a profit since its £45.5 billion bailout in 2008, hopes are rising that the bank could return to the black next year.

City analysts said it was likely that the banker would be keen to leave RBS, which remains more than 70 per cent owned by the state nearly nine years after its rescue. “The chief executive role at CBA could well be something he will consider carefully — not to mention the potential attractiveness of the location back in the southern hemisphere,” John Cronin at Goodbody Stockbrokers in Dublin said.

Before joining RBS, Mr McEwan worked for CBA for nearly a decade, rising to become the lender’s head of retail banking before he was passed over for the top job.

Ian Narev will step down as CBA boss by the middle of next year. Pic: AFP

CBA is expected to appoint its next boss from outside and, as a former senior executive who has subsequently gained experience running a major lender, Mr McEwan is expected to be among the frontrunners if he puts his name in the hat for the second time.

CBA’s retail bank is admired in the industry for its low cost-to-income ratio, at 34 per cent, while RBS has struggled to achieve a ratio of below 50 per cent.

Speaking at the bank’s half-year results last month, Mr McEwan said that RBS’s return to profitability was “becoming clearer” and the lender had resolved many of the “significant issues” it had faced, including a settlement with the US authorities over its sale of toxic mortgage-backed securities at the height of the financial crisis.

Another landmark reached during Mr McEwan’s tenure has been the first disposal by the government of some of its shares in RBS. However, this first sale has yet to be repeated and the subsequent fall in the share price has limited further sales.

The Times