Norris about to step into bank job

SYDNEY - Former Air New Zealand boss Ralph Norris this week begins what his predecessor has dubbed one of the nation's most important jobs when he takes over as head of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA).

Norris, 56, has already spent a week of work experience at Australia's second biggest bank but he officially begins as chief executive at the close of business on Thursday.

Norris is regarded as a change agent with a talent for breathing life into a company's culture and a knack for cutting costs by upgrading to cutting-edge technology.

He'll need both qualities at CBA, which has the lowest customer service ranking of the six big banks, anxious staff due to big job losses, and higher costs than some of its peers.

But if Norris' track record is anything to go by, he should be able to make some positive changes.

In three years at Air NZ he turned around an airline on the verge of bankruptcy, with more than $1 billion in losses, to what an analyst recently described as "one of the world's most financially sound and well-managed airlines".

Before that, he spent 30 years at CBA's subsidiary ASB Bank, including 10 as chief executive, where he also achieved major improvements in profits and customer service.

The strategy Norris developed for ASB formed the basis for CBA's three-year transformation programme "Which new Bank".

The programme involves the loss of 3700 jobs, an overhaul of CBA's IT system, branch refurbishments and staff retraining.

Norris has already flagged that he'll push CBA even harder, with the potential to further expand into Asia.

"The opportunity for the Commonwealth Bank now is to get the 'Which new Bank' platform and to go for a more aggressive growth strategy than what has been the case in the past," Norris said in June when his appointment was announced.

- AAP