Australia's banking industry will feel it has done well with the choice of anti-populist, pro-growth Rod Sims' appointment as the new chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. He is widely regarded for his economic, political and diplomatic skills. But banks and industry lobbies will also need to note Sims' dedication to economic rigour and pro-competition policy. He has spent substantial time over recent years making the case for business-oriented policy, most notably on climate change and electricity pricing. As adviser to the Business Council of Australia, he supplied much of the policy argument that led the Rudd government to raise the compensation offered to emissions-intensive trade-exposed industries. As chairman of NSW power price regulator IPART, he recommended big hikes in politically sensitive electricity rates last year, attracting the ire of Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper. His ALP connections are excellent: he worked in Bob Hawke's prime ministerial office in the late 1980s and sits on the board of Ingeus, the company founded and chaired by Thérèse Rein - former prime minister Kevin Rudd's wife. Treasurer Wayne Swan announced Sims' appointment at 12.30pm yesterday. Within two hours, BCA chairman Graham Bradley issued a statement praising Sims. Bradley also chairs HSBC Bank Australia. For all Sims' history of working with business, he has been a consistent advocate for the virtues of business competition. In the early 1990s, as deputy secretary in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, he helped drive the push for a national competition policy. He is a long-time board member of the National Competition Council. When he went into the private sector, it was to work with national competition policy architect Fred Hilmer. And Sims maintains a strong streak of intellectual independence and rigour. He is as interested in being right as in being paid. Early in his career he was a development economist in Papua New Guinea - not the choice of a careerist. Though he dealt with banks during his time in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, he has had relatively little exposure to the banking and finance sector. Sims himself would not comment on his attitude to the banking industry yesterday when he spoke to Banking Day. The banking industry will be happy with his appointment, but Sims' strong pro-competition views make his long-term effect on the industry hard to predict.