September 2019 Directors' Column

Graeme Willis - September 2019

The Hayne Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry highlighted a number of failures with the final report recommending opportunities to build and strengthen the financial system.

One of the key areas of focus related to Culture. Whilst the Royal Commission outcomes related to the complete system, in the main they related to the behaviours and environment created by the larger players in the financial services industry. On that basis, I am pleased to reaffirm that Bank First continues to be in a strong position as a customer owned bank and prides itself to do the right thing for the customer.

Culture is a major focus for Bank First and can be described via our values with a clear set of behaviours bringing this to life and telling the story of our culture. As a Board, we are very clear about the role we play in ensuring that Bank First regularly measures and collects the appropriate level of data about our culture and the broader environment. Demonstrating this via a recent culture analysis and assessment, the findings outlined that organisationally our people have a strong alignment to our culture and purpose. Added to this our people are engaged and possess a positive connection and understanding of the importance of risk and operate within an enhanced leadership environment.

As a Board we are enhancing our capability to immerse ourselves within the culture via specific initiatives and are committed to the ongoing journey to strengthen our culture and demonstrate as a customer owned bank how we value our customers.

We are excited to engage our customers throughout this journey and ensure that Bank First continues to be culturally strong and is led by the Board and our people in a values based manner.

Graeme Willis
Deputy Chair