NAB names Andrew Irvine head of business and private banking

Soon to arrive at NAB, BMO’s Andrew Irvine is the latest executive to join Australia’s business banking ranks from overseas.

Andrew Irvine is joining NAB has its new head of business and private banking. Picture: Supplied.

National Australia Bank has recruited a senior Canadian banker, Andrew Irvine, to become head of the nation’s largest business bank. Mr Irvine, currently in charge of Bank of Montreal’s Canadian business banking division, will start at NAB on September 1, joining the bank’s executive leadership team.

NAB chief executive Ross McEwan said Mr Irvine would play a key role in delivering strong outcomes for customers and colleagues.

“We have an ambition to grow our market-leading business bank by helping our customers grow,” Mr McEwan said.

“Andrew’s deep understanding of customers developed over a career in banking and his leadership in using data, insights and technology to meet their needs will be important to achieving this ambition.”

Mr Irvine’s appointment means that three of the four major banks have recruited from overseas to lead their business banking divisions.

Commonwealth Bank hired Mike Vacy-Lyle from South Africa, who started at CBA last February, while Westpac recruited Guil Lima from HSBC in Hong Kong.

Mr Irvine replaces Anthony Healy, who was one of the leading internal candidates to succeed Andrew Thorburn as chief executive before the board secured Mr McEwan.

Mr Healy left at the end of April. Last week The Australian reported that NAB was in the final stages of its search for a replacement for Mr Healy.

NAB is the nation’s biggest SME lender and its business bank is easily its largest division, reporting a 2 per cent fall in cash earnings to $2.84bn in the 2019 financial year.

The lower profit was attributed to higher impairments and more investment in the business.

COVID loans challenge

One of Mr Irvine’s early challenges will be the scheduled expiry of business loan deferrals at the end of September.

When COVID-19 hit last March, business and mortgage customers had the option of taking repayment holidays for up to six months.

The banks are in discussions with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority about extension of the deferral programs in return for continuing capital relief.

APRA has ruled that loan deferrals due to COVID-19 do not count for arrears periods.

NAB's newly appointed head of business and private banking Andrew Irvine posted this image on LinkedIn thanking colleagues for his time at BMO. Picture: LinkedIn.

Mr McEwan has made it clear that, after two-and-a-half years of investment in technology and skills, the challenge now was to deliver a much better experience for customers.

“To do this we need to execute better,” he told analysts at the bank’s half-year result in May.

“The business and private bank will remain a key differentiator as we aim to extend our market leadership by investing in our bankers and in our data and insights capabilities.

“But it really has come down to our execution capability, and then I go back to, just far too complicated – I think the bank has been trying to do too many things for too many people instead of having very clear priorities.”

Canadian experience

Mr Irvine has held a number of executive roles with the Bank of Montreal – known in Canada as BMO- since 2008, most recently as head of Canadian business banking where he was responsible for increasing customer loyalty, growth and market share through engagement.

Previously he was head of customer solutions, responsible for leading the bank’s headquarters group for both Canadian personal and business banking. This included the customer segment, product, operations, marketing and technology teams.

Before joining Bank of Montreal, Mr Irvine worked at management consultancy McKinsey & Company as an associate principal in Toronto and as an investment banker in London.

He will relocate to Melbourne with his wife and three children.

His appointment is subject to regulatory approvals.