Sydney, 17 July, 2007: The Council of the Australian Bankers’ Association (ABA) has elected John Stewart, National Australia Bank’s Group Chief Executive Officer, as the new ABA Chairman, and as the Deputy Chairman, Stuart Davis, Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Bank Australia, who will continue in this role.
 
Mr Stewart succeeds Dr David Morgan, Westpac Banking Corporation's Chief Executive Officer, who has successfully completed his two-year term. Mr Stewart acknowledged the work and effort of the retiring Chairman.

“Dr Morgan has been a very effective ABA Chairman. His strong background in public policy helped the ABA deal with the large volume of regulatory proposals which have affected the banking industry. While this sector remains one of the most highly regulated in Australia, Dr Morgan always strived to achieve balanced and workable outcomes. I welcome the opportunity to continue this important regulatory work because a strong, stable banking system is essential to our economic growth,” Mr Stewart said.

Dr Morgan paid tribute to the ABA for its role in leading public debate and for working with the Government and community to produce sound public policy outcomes.

“Australia has to embrace a high growth economic model and remain competitive to lock in our future prosperity. We’ve had almost twenty-five years of some very important structural reforms which have benefited the entire community, but there is much more to do.”

“Shortly before I was elected ABA Chairman, the Business Council of Australia released a report which revealed that the introduction of new laws and regulation was growing at the rate of 10% a year which was three times the rate of economic growth. Since that time we have seen some pleasing progress in response to the ABA’s submissions, both directly and as part of the Finance Industry Council of Australia¹, and from the Banks Taskforce² which made a number of recommendations for broader reform of regulatory practice. We have now seen a number of those recommendations turned into concrete action.”

Dr Morgan added that Australia must continue to work toward ensuring that we have the most efficient regulatory regime possible so that Australia’s current economic performance continues.
 
“The banking industry welcomes the renewed commitment from the Federal Government and the Opposition to improve regulatory processes and lighten the regulatory load, and we will continue to support them in this endeavour,” Dr Morgan said.

“I am also proud of the ABA’s progress in working toward good outcomes on important public policy issues like anti-money laundering and deposit insurance. There is still more work to be done and I am confident that the ABA will maintain this momentum under the incoming Chairman John Stewart. I wish him well in his new role.”

Both Mr Stewart and Dr Morgan also thanked the Deputy Chairman, Stuart Davis, Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Bank Australia. Both acknowledged the important part he had played supporting the ABA over the past two years and look forward to his continuing contribution in the next two years.

Notes for Editors

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