As Ken Henry yesterday scrambled to defend the ethical standing and competence of his board and senior executives, he also was given an opportunity by a shareholder to claim some high moral ground for bringing the Hayne Royal Commission into existence.For several years the former Turnbull Government thwarted persistent calls from its own backbench, the federal Opposition and bank victims groups for an independent inquiry in to misconduct across the financial sector.Each time the public clamour intensified for a big inquiry Turnbull invariably knocked the proposal down, claiming it was unnecessary and ran the risk of damaging the standing of Australia's financial system in foreign markets.In December 2017 the government relented but only after the chairs of each of the major banks requested a royal commission be established to address the heightened public concerns about the industry's treatment of retail and small business customers.At NAB's AGM in Melbourne yesterday Henry confirmed several media reports that he and CEO Andrew Thorburn were the people who persuaded leaders at the other banks to request the royal commission.Henry said that he and Thorburn lobbied the other banks towards the end of 2017 to support the idea of a royal commission, saying he thought it was time for a forum where customer grievances could be aired."During the course of 2017 Andrew and I came to the view that a royal commission was appropriate."It has been suggested that Andrew and I convinced the other three big banks that we did indeed have to have a royal commission"I don't normally comment on press speculation but I'll tell you here today that we did."And I'm very, very pleased that we did - it has been tough for us and tough for the whole industry."Henry also used the platform of the AGM to water down comments he made at the royal commission last month when he said it took a ten years to change the culture of large organisations.Under pressure from a disappointed shareholder who wanted to see NAB move more rapidly to mend its dysfunctional culture, Henry swooped on the opportunity."I do not believe it will take ten years in the case of NAB," he told the meeting.Henry also killed of speculation that NAB and the other major banks were about to bankroll a public advertising campaign against the Labor Party's plan to abolish negative gearing.A NAB shareholder warned Henry that the impact of such a reform could be devastating for the industry's profitability in coming years and that NAB should mount a public campaign against the proposed ban ahead of the federal election."It's not our intention to do so," Henry said."We think it's better for us to represent the interests of our shareholders and customers to politicians in different ways."It's not our intention to contribute to a public advocacy campaign on any particular issue of government policy."