Norris snares Commonwealth Bank top job

Ralph Norris

Air NZ head Ralph Norris has snared one of Australia's top corporate jobs, chief executive of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Mr Norris, 56, former head of the bank's ASB subsidiary, will take up the job this year.

CBA is Australia's largest domestic bank and is about five times bigger than Telecom, the biggest company on the NZ Stock Exchange.

Mr Norris, who will take over as managing director and chief executive from David Murray, who is retiring, described the bank as "truly an iconic organisation in Australasia".

He will be paid a base salary of A$1.9 million ($2.05 million) a year, with a cash incentive of up to A$1.9 million and an initial allocation of A$3.8 million ($4.1 million) in bank shares.

In the last financial year he was paid between $1.25 million and $1.26 million by Air NZ.

In an email to airline staff, Mr Norris said he realised the news would come as a surprise to many.

"This was a very difficult decision for me, as my years with Air NZ have been the most exciting and rewarding years of my business life and it is not easy for me to walk away.

"When the opportunity to become the Commonwealth Bank's CEO was offered to me, the challenge proved irresistible, even though it will mean I will have to relocate across the Tasman."

He said it was easy to forget Air NZ was "not in good shape" when he took over, with the "meltdown taking place all around us".

"Compare those dark days to today, where we are recognised as one of the recent success stories of the airline industry."

He told a press conference he felt his work at the airline was done, and he would have been "moving on anyway, within, probably, the next six to nine months". His New Zealand connections would remain strong.