Mr Evans (49) died of natural causes yesterday.
"Wayne was a vibrant and respected leader of our organisation.
"His passion and strategic leadership will be acutely missed. Our heartfelt condolences go to Wayne's family," SBS chairman John Ward said in a statement.
Invercargill-born Evans became SBS' chief executive in 2014.
He first joined SBS as an insurance clerk in 1984 after leaving high school.
Evans moved through a range of roles in his first, nine-year stint with SBS, ending up as assistant accountant, where he designed the banking system the lender still uses today.
He then took up a business analyst role with the local health board, before going back into finance as ANZ's Southland district manager.
Evans ended up as head of marketing, a role he left in 1998 to become chief executive of GE Money.
His path back to SBS was provided by Finance Now, a joint venture with the bank he co-founded in 2000.
He was Finance Now's chief executive before being appointed to the helm of SBS in 2014, where he replaced long-serving former CEO Ross Smith.
Evans was an avid long-distance swimmer, having become the seventh person to swim Foveaux Strait in 2013.
In a profile interview with the Business Herald just before Christmas, he said he was preparing to swim Cook Strait in February with a training regime that involved notching up 30 to 50km a week in the pool.
"The job I've got is quite a cerebral one and it's great to be able to relieve some stress through a physical outlet," he said.
Evans had four sons - aged 14 up to 24 - with wife Nicola.
"If you think about life's achievements, something I'm immensely proud of is my boys - they're resilient, self-reliant, intelligent and articulate people who engage with people quite readily," he said in the interview. "I think I've done my job."
