Knight in the Black Horse saddle

By PAULA OLIVER

Sir John Anderson looks like a man who is relishing his latest, perhaps greatest, challenge.

The 58-year-old was revealed on Friday as the leader of the country's largest bank - nearly twice the size of its main rivals - as a result of ANZ's takeover of the National Bank.

Notorious for keeping a low profile, Sir John appeared relaxed and eager to get on with the job when he gave a rare interview to the Business Herald.

Asked how long he intended to stay in his new job, he joked: "I thought about a 15-year contract."

Then more seriously, he elaborated. "Let me put it this way. I am committed to making this integration work. I haven't even thought about timeframes.

"To see these sorts of things through it could be four or five years.

"All I know is that we're going to make this work."

Sir John, longtime chief executive of the highly profitable National Bank, is considered a legend by many in banking circles - but the public knows little of him.

His name is more likely to be found on the sports pages of the country's newspapers, from his role as chairman of New Zealand Cricket, than it is on the business pages.

But Sir John has never been one to mimic what others do.

When chief executives of other foreign banks operating in New Zealand came and went, Sir John was constant.

When strategies changed as consultants varied, Sir John kept most things in-house and followed a consistent course.

When others moved head offices to Auckland, he stayed in Wellington.

His presence in the top job of the merged bank will undoubtedly have a calming effect on the National Bank's staff, who have been unsettled by the takeover process.

ANZ is, in the public's eye, seen as the poorer cousin of its more highly prized takeover target.

Consumer groups have expressed fears that being part of ANZ might drag down National Bank's good reputation for customer service.

Sir John is confident, however, that he can convince the National Bank's staff to come along for the ride.

"I've managed four different integrations, and all four have been extremely successful. The key is you don't hurry it. You get everyone involved, you work out what's the best solution.

"It's amazing how people, once they're included and their ideas are in there, they make it work. It's extraordinary. Rather than imposing things on them. They could well come up with all the answers. They will."

The four mergers he has led are Rural Bank, Countrywide, Southpac and one involving merchant bank Chase NBA.

The ANZ/National Bank integration could be his toughest.

Sir John says his job will not necessarily be over when the integration process is complete in three years' time.

"When you create something, which we've been given the opportunity to do, it's a continuing process. With Countrywide we finished the integration, and for the next two years we built 'our future bank', as we called it. That was where we completely outstripped the market."

His contract with new employer ANZ will be worked out between him and the bank's Australian head, John McFarlane.

The two seemed comfortable enough seated together at the takeover announcement - even if Sir John's name-plate looked oddly out of place etched in ANZ blue.

In Australia the financial world will judge McFarlane, a joking Scotsman, on the outcome of the National Bank takeover.

He has a lot at stake and Sir John is a key part of his plan.

A hands-off leader, Sir John prefers to set a culture and let his staff flourish. He is adamant ANZ has taken a different view of this acquisition and that it will allow the bank to be run autonomously, within New Zealand.

It might be difficult for McFarlane to keep the promised distance, but it is more difficult to believe that Sir John won't fight for it.

He will also have support from the Reserve Bank, which has made approval for the takeover conditional on a high level of independence from Australia.

Sir John says the grieving for Lloyds TSB, which until the sale had been associated with National Bank since its foundation in 1872, has been done and it is time to move forward.

"Lloyds has been a really good shareholder, and we've had a very amiable and good working relationship. But once we got over the first period of saying, 'Why are we being sold?', we realised it wasn't because of anything to do with us.

"It's inevitable that this change had to happen."

He puts it down to a combination of factors: British companies gaining new friends in Europe, companies reinvesting back into their part of the world, and Lloyds' own publicly aired problems.

Sir John said the toughest part of the process was the waiting.

Once he and senior management had accepted that they were for sale, they set about engineering the best possible result.

That, according to Sir John, was to do a transaction, to get the opportunity to create something, to have a major shareholder and be part of a wider group.

A management buy-out was never seriously contemplated because the credit lines needed to run the business wouldn't have been available.

As the sale process progressed Sir John personally spoke to 80 per cent of the bank's managers to keep them informed.

Regular monitoring of staff morale showed they were handling it positively.

"Sure, underneath it all there's that niggling uncertainty in some areas.

"But the confidence that people have in their ability and the investment that they've made in themselves - and we've followed up and made in them - means they're extremely confident they'll play a part in the new organisation."

Working parties from both organisations will decide how the integration progresses.

Sir John admits there will be job losses, but from his experience with other mergers he expects many people will be retrained.

Most of the integration planning will happen in coming months, and almost half of the estimated A$230 million ($264m) integration costs will be borne by September next year.

Sir John has a big job ahead of him, and he knows it, but he seems relaxed, even enthusiastic, about the challenge.

And despite the fact that he obviously prefers to stay out of the limelight he even seems to enjoy the unusual experience, for him, of giving an interview.

As he leaves there is a joke that he might have to do more media work if the new bank decides to go ahead with a partial float on the New Zealand stock exchange.

Sir John ponders that, and suggests with a smile that the bank might find somebody else to do that part of the job.

CV


Sir John Anderson

Age: 58

Education

Christ's College and Victoria University, Wellington, qualifying as an accountant in 1968.

Career

Company secretary for merchant bank Southpac and, when it merged with National Bank some 25 years later, he and his team basically took over the management.

Community service

Head of numerous industry bodies including Bankers Association, Bankers Institute, Merchant Banks Association, Banking Ombudsman Commission.

Other positions have included chairing NZ Cricket, Sports Foundation, NZ World Wide Fund for Nature.