Macquarie Group chairman Kevin McCann has acknowledged his banking firm needs to do better in the wake of the financial advice scandal.
Victims of dodgy financial ideas lost millions of dollars in savings after consulting Macquarie's private wealth division.
The Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank were also implicated in the financial planning drama.
A fortnight after banking executives and financial advice victims fronted a Senate inquiry Mr McCann, who chairs Macquarie Group and Macquarie Bank, said the shortcomings were being addressed.
"We recognise, along with management, that the companies need to do better," he told an Australian Council of Superannuation Investors conference.
"We need to be seen to be behaving in a way that's appropriate for our clients, and that we're working for the benefit of our clients."
Commonwealth Bank director Jane Hemstritch said corporate leaders needed to listen to their employees' concerns.
"It is important to pay attention to what you're being told," she said.
"So that you can make your own judgment as to the state of the culture and whether anything needs to be addressed."
But she defended the Commonwealth Bank's handling of the issue, as evidence of wrongdoing emerged in stages.
"Had we known everything that we know now right from the get go, we might have handled things in a different way - but we didn't," she said.
ANZ chairman David Gonski said it was impossible for a bank boss to prevent irresponsible behaviour.
"If you say to me as chairman of a bank `it is my responsibility that no person will act improperly,' you can't do that," he said.
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