Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Commonwealth Bank boss Ralph Norris signs off after five years; regrets Storm Financial links; says Australians will always think "banks are bastards"

He's been one of the most controversial and fiesty banking bosses Australia has seen - the man borrowers and politicians love to hate.

But today Ralph Norris ends his five year reign as the Commonwealth Bank's chief executive.

Read my feature on ABC News Online. Listen to the interview here.

Mr Norris is perhaps best known for last year's Melbourne Cup day interest rate hike which almost doubled the Reserve Bank's official move.

But he's also been praised for steering the Commonwealth through the still unfolding global financial crisis and delivering multi billion dollar profits.

On his final day in the job, Mr Norris defended his tough decisions and cited the bank's role in the Storm Financial group as his main regret.

Mr Norris also said he wouldn't put his house on the Treasurer's commitment to return the federal budget to surplus.

Will Australians always believe "banks are bastards"? He doesn't think he's convinced any borrower otherwise.

But he thinks there may be bigger things to worry about very soon, considering the global risks being posed by Europe.

No comments:

Post a Comment

What's your view on this?