CBA’s business bank boss Mike Vacy-Lyle explains why “saffers” make good CEOs

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Mike Vacy-Lyle says his South African upbringing has instilled a can-do attitude and the confidence to take on any competition.

Michael Vacy-Lyle was ensconced at First National Bank, one of South Africa’s big four lenders, when he took a surprise call from a recruiter in 2019, who asked if he wanted to fly to London to meet Matt Comyn.

Comyn explained how he wanted to take on National Australia Bank, which had a larger loans business, by using payments devices to suck up business deposits and help CBA diversify from residential housing. With three six-year-old kids and a vast collection of vinyl records in tow, the couple arrived for good in February 2020. But the initial omens were bad. Bushfires were raging; then it rained for months. “People were trying to sell me the beauty of Sydney and I couldn’t see a thing. The sky was just dark,” he reminisces.Things got worse when COVID-19 struck within weeks.

Vacy-Lyle, with colleague Karen Last and Charles Wang, owner of Nevaggio cafe in Sydney, who is holding a CBA payment device.He admires the Springboks’ winning mentality, its innovative coaching and the strong bench. “Anything that makes forget the challenges we have is really powerful, and that team carried that weight on their shoulders.”He laughs this off. “It’s a very challenged country. We have a very can-do attitude, to get things done.

Vacy-Lyle is part of a trend for Australian banks to turn to foreigners to fill senior executive ranks. He arrived in Australia at the same time aswho also came to run a business bank, in this case for NAB, before being appointed as that bank’s CEO, a job he starts next month. “Angus Sullivan and Andrew Hinchliff are world-class operators, and some of the best bankers I have worked with,” he says, looking me in the eyes. “There is no shortage of capability and skill here. But not having history has made it easier to come here and challenge.”

Given the sharp interest rate rises, I ask if low bad debts across the banks is evidence they’re not taking enough risk. He agrees, “We have more to do to mobilise capital to businesses with different ways of lending, and taking a little bit of unsecured risk.”

 

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