National Australia Bank's chief executive, Cameron Clyne, has defended the bank's emphasis on reputation and customer satisfaction under his management, saying it adds to the bottom line.Speaking at an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce lunch in Sydney yesterday, Clyne said: "People ask us why we focus on it. They want to know if it really drives returns or is it more about making us feel better."When Clyne took on the top job at NAB, in January 2009, the bank's customer satisfaction rating was the lowest of the big banks' ratings and trailed the others by a considerable margin.Some commentators have questioned whether high customer satisfaction and staff engagement scores, sometimes called soft metrics, have any demonstrable impact on market share or profitability.Clyne said: "There is a very strong correlation between a focus on reputation and the delivery of real value."NAB has had strong market share growth in its Australian retail bank since it launched its "Break up" advertising campaign in February 2011 and also reduced transaction and other fees."New customers have come to us because they see that we did that on our own account. There is a real benefit in putting yourself ahead of the trend."Clyne said the bank's improved reputation meant that more staff were proud of the fact they worked at NAB. That is an important consideration when they are dealing with customers."When we launched the 'Break up' campaign we had already made a number of changes. When customers came through the door staff could talk about all the things we had done. It was not just a promise."And, he said, improving the reputation of the business was a good defence against "blunt and onerous" regulation."High customer satisfaction and staff engagement scores give regulators less of a basis to intervene. Regulation can be costly."Regulatory change was an inevitable outcome of the GFC (global financial crisis), but you have a better chance of engaging in a constructive dialogue if you have got in front of the curve and addressed the reputational issues."Clyne has been challenged by analysts on several occasions about whether the bank's push for retail market share over the past few years has been profitable, given its relatively low margin on home loans and low fees on transaction banking. The question came up again yesterday.Clyne said: "We are very pleased to have those larger numbers. We have made back the earnings we gave up when we re-based our retail pricing."