CBA's head of business banking on why lending to startups is so risky
NAB's new CEO runs its business bank. His biggest rival is at Commonwealth Bank. So what is CBA thinking? And why doesn't that include lending to startups?
Andrew Irvine will replace Ross McEwan as National Australia Bank CEO with his strong performance as head of NAB’s business bank bolstering his credentials. Analysts and investors noted he’d grown the business despite new competition from rivals and particularly Australia’s biggest bank, Commonwealth Bank.
Capital Brief spoke to CBA’s head of business banking, Michael Vacy-Lyle, Irvine’s direct competitor, just before the NAB announcement to get his sense of the intense competition in business banking and how CBA can leverage its market position.
But where he won’t be focusing is the startup sector. He tells us why.
Business banking has some pretty rubbery definitions but most consider NAB the leader and CBA number two. But it’s clearly a new battlefield for banks with plenty of challenger bank rivals too.
