Rob Whitfield’s move for state and country

Rob Whitfield’s move from Westpac to NSW Treasury has confounded some colleagues and won the admiration of others.

Rob Whitfield, in Sydney yesterday, is delighted with the reaction to his decision to leave Westpac to head up NSW Treasury. Picture: Simon Bullard

A day after announcing he was leaving his $4.7 million-a-year earner to lead the NSW Treasury, Westpac institutional boss Rob Whitfield could not be happier with a decision that’s confounded some of his colleagues while earning the admiration of others.

“There’s been a fair bit of surprise, but I’ve been delighted with the number of customers, including chief executives and chairs, who’ve sent their congratulations by text, email and even hand­written notes,” he says in his only extended interview, after enjoying lunch yesterday at Sydney’s Potts Point eatery Cho Cho San.

“The commentary has been how good this is for the state and the country.”

From all reports, Whitfield, who led the team that executed Westpac’s $12 billion scrip merger with St George Bank in 2008, was not short of alternatives.

While he ran second to Brian Hartzer last November in a two-horse internal succession race to succeed Gail Kelly, the global executive search industry has had his number on speed-dial ever since.

Whitfield, 50, was offered a chief-executive role at a Middle Eastern bank, which he never ­seriously considered, but was tempted by senior roles at two international banks — one working out of London, the other in Asia. “There are fantastic roles for Australian bankers around the world because we’re seen as ­having done very well in the ­financial crisis,” he says.

“But the truth is I’ve got great admiration for (NSW Premier) Mike Baird. “NSW has got a big agenda. It’s the only state with an agenda. And it’s delivery time now.”

Private sector to public service is a road much travelled in the US, but far less so in Australia.

Rare examples include federal Treasury boss John Fraser, and former Westpac and Standard Chartered senior executive Mike Pratt.

Fraser, an ex-CEO of UBS Global Asset Management who was one of the few senior executives to survive the Swiss banking giant’s 2008 near-death experience, is a former deputy Treasury head.

His latest incarnation means he has transitioned from the public sector into the private and back to the public.

Whitfield doesn’t know Fraser well because the latter was based in London, but he thoroughly supports the idea of transferable career paths between the two sectors, saying that public service training, particularly in Treasury, is highly valued.

He laments that Australia doesn’t have a private-sector culture of public duty. Part of the explanation was vastly inferior remuneration, but this also applies in the US.

Pratt, who has been commissioner for service in NSW for 2½ years, predicts that the career paths chosen by Whitfield, Fraser and himself will lead to others following suit.

“I’ve found that the skills we bring, particularly from the finance sector, are highly relevant in modern government, and Mike Baird gets that,” Pratt says.

“The public service benefits from a private-sector focus, accountability and performance measurement, and a lot of us have technology-related backgrounds so we understand how to use big data digitally so we can better serve the citizens.”

Before accepting the Treasury role, Whitfield did his due diligence, consulting with former Westpac chairman and federal Treasury secretary Ted Evans, whom he proudly describes as a mentor.

As chair of Westpac’s risk committee, Evans was instrumental in convincing Whitfield to switch from the coveted role of group treasurer to the less sought-after position of chief risk officer.

Evans’ advice on the Treasury job, according to Whitfield, was that it would be a “great move for NSW, for the country, and for me personally”.

It chimed with his own assessment.

The way Whitfield sees it, NSW is perfectly placed to assert its position as the country’s most important economy, with an election won and legislation passed for the privatisation of the state’s electricity network.

The program could raise up to $20 billion for productive infrastructure investment.

As head of Westpac’s institutional bank, Whitfield has often spoken of the “wall of liquidity” created by central-bank money-printing around the world that’s looking for an attractive, reliable yield, given global interest rates are so low.

“Demand will be strong for the leasing of the poles and wires assets,” he says.

“You’ve got domestic and international players, and consortia with a mix of partners.

“We’re in the right part of the cycle and there are fewer assets for sale by other eastern-seaboard states, which will make these assets even more highly sought-after.”

The discussion inevitably leads to one of Whitfield’s hobby horses — that governments should take advantage of the historically low interest rate environment to invest in productivity-enhancing infrastructure.

He openly disagrees with financial system inquiry chairman David Murray, who has frequently expressed concern about a debt spiral that could result in Australia losing its coveted AAA sovereign-debt rating.

“David and I have both made our judgments and I believe that the Australian balance sheet and the sovereign rating is very sound,” Whitfield says.

“My caveat is that if we increase our borrowings, it has to be for investment in productive assets.

“NSW has a tremendous opportunity with infrastructure. It could be an important kick-starter for the national economy.”

The Westpac boss is big on the importance of leadership, agreeing that New Zealand’s strong performance reflects the economic and business smarts of Prime Minister John Key and his deputy and Minister of Finance Bill English.

Whitfield hopes he can develop a similarly successful partnership with Baird, who entered politics after a career as a banker at Deutsche Bank and HSBC, and Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian, who worked for five years at Commonwealth Bank before entering state parliament.

If things work out as hoped, Whitfield will adapt to a “whole new environment”, where understanding of nuance in the dealings between politicians, public servants and other agencies is critical.

One thing is certain, though.

After 30 years at Westpac, and a new job awaiting him at NSW Treasury, Whitfield believes he has another 15 years of productive work ahead of him, some of it back in the private sector.

“This is certainly not my last role,” he says.