Meet the Young Bankers Determined to Lift Ethics As Hayne Scars Heal

2/6/21, 6:25 am Page 1 of 1

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Meet the young bankers determined to lift ethics as Hayne scars heal

JamesJamesJames Eyers EyersEyers Senior Reporter

Jun 2, 2021 – 12.00am Save Share

Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe and former APRA chairman John Laker say they are impressed with young bankers displaying a heightened understanding of personal accountability, in a sign the scars inﬂicted by the Hayne royal commission are healing.

Dr Lowe, who will announce 11 new “young James Eyers ambassadors” for the Banking and Finance Oath on Wednesday, says the ethical foundations of the industry are being strengthened “by the incoming generation’s commitment to serving the public and it is inspiring to see the growing engagement from young people with the BFO.”

Banking and Finance Oath director Cris Parker with BFO chairman John Laker, and two of the 11 new BFO young ambassadors, Iqra Bhatia from CBA and Aoife Donnelly from Metlife, in Sydney on Tuesday. Louise Kennerley

After merging with The Ethics Centre, the Banking and Finance Oath is making a deeper push into banks, insurers and universities as a larger number of younger people sign it to help advance their careers and engage with senior leadership on ethical challenges.

Interviews with four of the new ambassadors, who are all under 30, suggest the next generation of leaders considers ﬁnancial services a profession like law, and reveal a generational shift as younger staff seek to align corporate values with their own.

Iqra Bhatia, who has worked in banking for ﬁve years and is now at Commonwealth Bank, heard about the oath on LinkedIn and says it will reassure customers that she will look after them.

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“I always want to be doing what my organisation stands for, and which aligns with what I stand for as well,” Ms Bhatia says. Pledging the oath “holds you accountable to what you believe in”.

Aoife Donnelly, who joined life insurer MetLife 18 months ago after working in external audit, says the oath was mentioned in town hall meetings and internal communications. She decided to sign it to help improve her leadership skills and to meet senior leaders in the company and sector. Working in audit showed her the impact insurance decisions have on people and she says “walking into a job every day, I have to have pride in who I work for, so it’s important their values align with my values”.

Nancy Loomba, BFO young ambassador at NAB: “Being an ethical person is like a religion for me.”

All four big bank CEOs have signed the BFO and overall about 4000 workers have taken the oath and about 2000 are currently signed up to it (the pledge needs to be renewed each year), representing around 2 per cent of workers in the banking and insurance industry – around the same as the national COVID-19 vaccination rate.

A lack of awareness is cited as the reason for the slow uptake but Dr Laker, who was chairman of the BFO until its recent merger, says “it’s not just about the number of signatories but who the signatories are and what inﬂuence they have”.

“It’s really about how conversations about ethics are introduced into all levels of an organisation,” says Dr Laker, who chaired APRA for a decade to 2014.

“In the early days, it was challenging to generate a groundswell of support for an ethical oath, but today the BFO has buy-in and support from senior leaders in the financial services industry and growing engagement by the younger generation entering the industry, who will be its future leaders. The BFO’s young ambassadors are a key part of this engagement. They reflect enthusiasm and confidence and ambition for a better society”.

Another of the new ambassadors is Nancy Loomba from National Australia Bank. She came across the oath during the new professional fundamentals course that NABNABNAB chief chiefchief executive executiveexecutive Ross RossRoss McEwan McEwanMcEwan insists insistsinsists everyeveryevery NAB NABNAB banker bankerbanker does doesdoes through throughthrough professional professionalprofessional body bodybody FinsiaFinsiaFinsia.

NAB chief executive Ross McEwan insists every NAB banker does through professional body Finsia

Jack Thompson, BFO young ambassador, Bank Australia: “Ethics need to be a part of business decisions.”

Brought up in India, Ms Loomba has a background in accounting and was encouraged to work in banking after visiting a NAB branch just after she arrived in Australia in 2012, where she was welcomed by a helpful member of staff.

“Being an ethical person is like a religion for me,” she says.

Jack Thompson, who has been at Bank Australia for four years after a stint in advertising, says the oath, which was shown to him by colleagues, provides an opportunity to have conversations about the more prominent role ethics will play in the age of artiﬁcial intelligence. He says it will also help to deal with the tensions at the heart of the industry, as workers balance ﬁnancial performance with expectations on banks in the broader community.

“The BFO has a really big role to play, and maybe it hasn’t had the uptake they want. But hopefully, post royal commission, and as we move to ESG being part of our business models, the BFO is involved in that,” he says. “Ethics need to be a part of business decisions.”

BFO director Cris Parker says senior leaders realise “people are the most valuable things in their business and there has been a shift away from shareholder primacy. If you want to deliver on promises to customers, [banks] need really good people living the values of the organisations, and the leaders get that.”

“I think more young people are saying they have each other’s backs and want to shape the organisation and be proud of where they are working and what we are doing. Post royal commission, a lot of systemic issues are being addressed and senior leaders want and need young people to help strengthen the ethical foundations being worked on.”

Dr Laker agreed that there is now a wider acceptance across the sector about “stakeholder primacy”, which includes not only investors but customers, staff and the broader community.

“Without sounding Pollyanna-ish, we know there is a lot of idealism in our younger generation. We see that in their strong commitment on societal issues – like climate change, the MeToo movement and Black Lives Matter – and that same commitment can be brought to the workplace,” he says.

“The oath is a personal way to give voice to their values, as it is public and transparent and provides the opportunity for signatories to join together and, as they say, ‘stand up and be counted’. A strong ﬁnancial system is essential to the economy. The BFO was founded on a shared belief in the inherent ‘good’ of the industry, and that belief remains strong. “

The other seven BFO young ambassadors are Felix Ryan from ANZ, Allen Chen and Cameron Howlett from Westpac, Rongxin Huang from NAB, Tseku Erdenebileg at Bank of Queensland, Ben Robinson from Deloitte and Emma Roberts at APRA.

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Dr Lowe said heightened interest in the oath was a natural extension of growing trust in banks after the sector’s role during COVID-19NAB's back-to-school supporting borrowers: push is a “The banking and ﬁnanceturning industry point hasfor bankers provided support for our community over unprecedented times and continues to build that trust.”

Private investors lead the way on “The BFO is an opportunitysocial forresponsibility individuals to make a commitment to integrity and to be willing to be held accountable. An industry that wants to continue to be a trustworthy service to society needs individuals who will self-reﬂect and be accountable for their actions and The BFO is encouraging our future leaders to aspire to this.”

JamesJamesJames Eyers EyersEyers writes on banking, ﬁntech and technology. Based in our Sydney newsroom, James is a former Legal Affairs and Capital editor for the Financial Review Connect with James on TwitterTwitterTwitter. Email James at [email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]

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