National Australia Bank (NAB) has named Ian Saines (pictured) as its next chair, and he is already flagging competition as a defining challenge for one of Australia’s largest banks.
“NAB, like all banks, faces challenges from within the industry, new entrants and new technologies,” Saines said in a NAB statement
Saines takes a board seat as a non-executive director in March 2027 and the chair four months later. He succeeds Philip Chronican, who steps down after 11 years with NAB, eight of them as chair. Chronican, who also served as acting group chief executive in 2019, is the longest-serving current chair of a major Australian bank. The appointment is subject to regulatory approval, and shareholders will vote on Saines’ election at NAB’s December 2027 annual general meeting.
Saines said he would support chief executive Andrew Irvine and the senior leadership team, describing NAB as “the largest business bank in the country and a major supporter of consumer customers”.
His comments follow NAB’s full-year results, in which the bank’s proprietary channel grew to half of new home loans. Excluding Ubank, the share of new home loans written through brokers fell from 59% in the 2025 financial year to 50% in the year to 30 September 2026, as Irvine pursued his priority of “strengthening proprietary home lending.”
Chronican said Saines was “well placed to lead the NAB board”, adding that the board wanted deep banking experience to lead NAB “through an uncertain period for the industry and the country”.
Saines was previously group executive for institutional banking and markets at Commonwealth Bank (CBA) and head of funds management at Challenger. He stepped down from the Macquarie Bank board to join NAB and continues to sit on the board of NSW Treasury Corporation.
The leadership change comes as conditions tighten for borrowers. The Reserve Bank of Australia lifted the cash rate to 4.85% on 3 November, its highest level since 2008, in a split six-to-three vote.
Board-level changes rarely shift lender policy overnight. But the incoming chair’s focus on competition and technology will be worth watching as NAB continues its push toward proprietary lending.
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