The bank, which had a core tier 1 capital ratio of 10.8 percent at the end of the third quarter, has set a target of holding core capital of more than 12 percent by the end of 2016.
"There's no way we will be paying a dividend until we get ourselves well in advance of that 12 percent target," McEwan said on a conference call.
"I don't think we should be thinking about dividends until we've got a really good capital build and seen some of the bumps in the road out of the way," he added.
(Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Steve Slater)