He spoke in a webinar for the CFA Society New Zealand last week.

McEwan talked about the importance of building the right team, creating the right strategy and making sure there was buy-in on that vision. He emphasised the importance of staff engagement in bringing out the best in the workforce.

McEwan was previously chief executive of AXA, First NZ Capital, and Royal Bank of Scotland.

He said the emphasis on conduct in banking in recent years had shown that the sector was not getting the basics right in many ways.

The Australian industry had become complacent after “20 or 30 years of good running” without a recession, he said, and had become complacent in banking as well.

“We needed a reminder of why we are here,” he said.

That was to be there for customers, he said, and sometimes that meant saying no.

“Sometimes the best answer for a customer is no … the industry had lost focus but that’s back now …You’re seeing that come through with the Covid-19 response from banks and regulators. What’s the best thing we can do to get through this? The bank wins when the customers win.”

He said Covid-19 had accelerated technological changes. Customers were happy to do many things for themselves if it was made simple for them, he said.

He said banks have a strong role to play using data and analytics, to help customers and make things available that are good for them. “If you do a good job [customers] will do more business with you. If you do a bad job and you get a bad reputation, then you won’t be in business for long.”

McEwan said the Australian and New Zealand Governments were in a good position to manage Covid-19 because of the good discipline and financial prudence of previous governments.

He said schemes that would keep people connected to their employers were good, and some industries would need further support – such as tourism.

McEwan said he expected the economy to be back to pre-Covid levels by 2022.