NAB CEO Andrew Irvine skipped board’s 3am conference call after media scrutiny of his behaviour
NAB boss Andrew Irvine says a week of media scrutiny over his behaviour has been challenging. It started with remarks about him drinking and evolved into a public discourse about his leadership style.
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National Australia Bank boss Andrew Irvine missed an informal board meeting call to discuss public intrigue about his behaviour because he was asleep.
He had chosen not to participate in the meeting given it was held at 3am Toronto time, or 5pm Sydney time, when he was overseas on annual leave in Canada, Mr Irvine told a media pack outside the Australian Banking Association’s annual conference in Sydney.
The NAB boss returned from holidays this week after intense media scrutiny over his firm management style.
“It was an informal conversation to try and get the facts around what was being said and whether the board felt it was fair and warranted,” he said.
Mr Irvine said he had not had any conversations about his behaviour or leadership style with NAB’s board, chaired by veteran banker Philip Chronican, yet.
But when asked if any changes were warranted, Mr Irvine, newly elevated to the top job from head of the NAB business banking division, replied that he would continue to invest in his relationships with NAB customers.
“It helps me understanding their business and it helps them understand how we’re supporting them, and they often give us their business as a result,” he said.
“So I’m not going to change the amount of time I spend with our customers, I think it’s a really important part of who I am and what I want the rest of our staff to be doing.”
NAB’s board was reportedly alerted to concerns by investors over Mr Irvine’s drinking.
Mr Irvine said he very rarely went out for lunch with customers.
The NAB boss earlier told the ABA event, of which he is chair, that his week being a target of media interest had been “difficult”, telling the room of banking industry figures he found the intense coverage “quite personal and public” and that it was “hard on me and my family”.
Mr Irvine said he expected public scrutiny in his role, but he had hoped it would be “even-handed and balanced”.
“I’ve just got to get through it and I plan on doing that,” he said.
But later, Mr Irvine said his team had told him to keep going, after consulting others at the bank for their feedback upon his return.
“You want to be the best leader for your team so that you’re open, that you’re there for them to be successful, that you’re helping them with their issues, and I’ve got a great executive team that is behind me,” he said.
“You know, I think all of us have to continue to take feedback on, and I’m open to feedback.”
Mr Irvine will miss the banking association’s networking drinks and dinner scheduled for Wednesday evening. NAB said this had always been planned.
In a note to investors, Aitken Mount partner Angus Aitken took aim at the “pile on” surrounding Mr Irvine, noting his firm had “plenty of clients who are NAB business customers who know Andrew Irvine well from his days running the business bank, and they tell me they reckon he is absolutely excellent”.
Mr Aitken said concern within the fund management community about Mr Irvine showed some people were “more interested in gossip than talented people running a bank”.
“Some of the most vocal fund managers are just risk managers anyway, if they tried to run the NAB themselves the stock would likely implode, yet they are happy to tell people how to run a bank,” he said.
“I see in recent years other bank CEOs having drinks at the Australian tennis with clients, does this mean they are bad CEOs? Of course, it does not.”
Separately, the ABA event heard from Mr Irvine that the days of major branch closures were largely over.
He had changed his thinking on branches, and instead of closing branches he wanted to see NAB reopen or relocate.
Mr Irvine also warned Australia was facing down the dual challenges of housing affordability and productivity, both critical to a thriving economy.
The banking sector had to champion pulling apart red tape and pressing for solutions.
Mr Irvine said Australia faced a 10-year productivity drought, and the rise in public sector jobs and the dearth of private sector work had worsened the issue.
The NAB boss noted many jobs created in the past decade had been low productivity roles in the care economy.
The No.1 issue was Australia’s housing crisis.
“We’re struggling to build enough dwellings to both maintain the dream of Australian homeownership and enable migration,” he said.
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Originally published as NAB CEO Andrew Irvine skipped board’s 3am conference call after media scrutiny of his behaviour
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