UK needs to put more ‘energy’ into trade, says ex-NatWest boss

National Australia Bank Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Ross McEwan has offered some stern words of advice to Britain’s leaders as they pursue post-Brexit trade deals: get on with it.

McEwan, who ran British lender NatWest Group Plc until 2019, said the UK needed to do more with the opportunities thrown up by its decision six years ago to leave the European Union. “It’s come away from Europe, it now needs to put all of that energy into growing trading partners offshore,” McEwan said in an interview with Bloomberg News in London.

“I’ve always thought it had an amazing base of Commonwealth countries—Australia, Canada, India and New Zealand—all very friendly. Let’s get on and get the trade deal and get moving,” said McEwan.

The UK agreed a trade pact with Australia last year, though it’s yet to come into effect as its requires the approval of both country’s parliaments. The deal was formally proposed to British lawmakers earlier this week. McEwan said he hoped the two nations could enjoy stronger relations.

“It’s one of the greatest relationships Australia has and we should be developing the trade much greater than it has been for the last 30-odd years,” he said. 

Paris Hub

McEwan was in Paris on Thursday to open NAB’s new 25-person hub for its European operations, which has capacity for as many as 50 staff as it follows other global banks in transferring some business into the EU following Brexit. “We’ve got to deal with those European players quite separately” from the firm’s London presence, though the latter will support the new French operations. “That business will do very well based in Europe from Paris,” he said.

NAB, Australia’s second-largest lender, has operated in the UK for over 150 years. It spun off its UK retail business, CYBG, in 2016.