New Suncorp CEO Patrick Snowball has warned competitors to keep their hands off the group’s troubled bank, while also admitting business complexity needs to be reduced.

Mr Snowball told the Suncorp AGM last week the first challenge is to restore credibility, which will only come from the group delivering on its promised performance.

Speaking in public for the first time since assuming the CEO’s role in September, he said the culture of the Suncorp Group itself needs to be changed and the creation of a “truly unified” culture is a “leading” priority.

“Whether it is at the front end of the business in claims policy handling or at the back end in the way we manage claims, our finances and our people, we have built in too many systems, too much complexity and too much cost,” he said.

Mr Snowball quelled speculation about an imminent sale of the group’s bank, saying it is “core to the group” and the rumours are “clumsy attempts” to create a buyers’ market for what are presumed or hoped to be distressed assets.

“The board will always act with its fiduciary obligations foremost in its mind but we will not run this business with a view to it being taken over at some time in the future,” he said.

The former British Army tank commander ended his speech with an appropriately military warning: “My polite message to those who seek to target us is – ‘get your tanks off our lawn!’”