Ross McEwan, the NAB CEO, was in no mood for crypto-nonsense and fintech idealism at a hearing with the House Economics Committee yesterday. Liberal MP Jason Falinski and McEwan supplied rare colour to the typically stale routine imposed on the CEOs of the Big Four banks since the royal commission.
“Does the bank bank cryptocurrency?” Falinski demanded, continuing to explore the favoured themes of Senator Andrew Bragg’s Senate Select Committee, which held an earnest hearing on this topic on Wednesday.
“NO!” McEwan replied. “Has the bank taken a policy to not bank cryptocurrency?” Falinska then asked. “NO!” "If a cryptocurrency provider came to you today, would NAB happily bank them?” Falinski’s tried. “NO!” McEwan retorted, like he’d rehearsed this, yet on the cusp of breaking character. “Why not?” Faliniski demanded a second time - unlike most MPs, prepped for his part. “We have to look at where does cryptocurrency go, in conjunction with partners like the Reserve Bank,” McEwan said. “We have to look at money movement. We have to look at what presents as a payment format,” he said, in his only concession to fintech realities and interests. Falinski then sledged his guest: “Sounds like anti-competitive behaviour by the bank.” “NO! NO!”, McEwan responded.
“What are the risks here?” - Falinski persisted.
“You tell me the future of the cryptocurrency,” said McEwan, getting going. Falinski failed to meet this challenge.
“Cryptocurrency might fall by 50 per cent,” the NAB CEO continued. “That’s all fine until something goes wrong. I guarantee that someone will come back to me: ‘you let me do that’.” McEwan could well have added that spamming, bullying and blackmail to sustain demand are totally out of control.
He finished up his defence on faulty claims of de-banking with, “We don’t de-bank [cryptocurrency providers] because we never banked.
“There’s a number of customers we won’t bank, because if we don’t understand the risk, we can’t bank them properly and make money out of it.”
He had earlier told the committee it often may take nine months to progress, analyse and manage risks before finally onboarding a new business client.
“It’s the same with [some] fintechs. How can we understand the risks?” he said. “From a company perspective, if they come to us and we think we understand them we will look after them.”
Staging an energetic short season, Tim Wilson’s Economics Committee today will question the heads of APRA and ASIC and then have representatives from both back for another go alongside the ACCC later in the day.
On Tuesday, the CEOs of CommBank and ANZ have their latest invitation, and then wondering why they even turn up.