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Former NSW premier Mike Baird joins NAB as chief customer officer

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Former NSW premier Mike Baird will join National Australia Bank as chief customer officer of the lender's corporate and institutional banking unit.

Mr Baird, who quit as NSW premier and retired from politics in January to spend more time with his family, will start the role in mid-April, NAB said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange on Tuesday morning. 

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NSW Premier Mike Baird has announced he is stepping away from politics. Vision courtesy ABC News 24.

NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn said he had held several conversations with Mr Baird while he was premier about future employment opportunities, but the timing of his resignation was serendipitous because it occurred as the bank was recruiting for the chief customer role.

By the time he called Mr Baird three days later, the former premier had already received four other job offers.

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Mr Thorburn would not comment on Mr Baird's salary, saying the information would be outlined in the annual report, but said all three new executive recruits would be paid "market competitive rates".

"Because a lot is expected of them," he said.

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Mr Baird is set to receive more than $2 million a year in his new role, based on the pay of similar level executives at NAB. 

Andrew Haggar, who occupies the same role in NAB's consumer and wealth arm, was paid $4 million last financial year, consisting a $1 million salary plus bonuses, superannuation and shares, and $3 million in 2015.

Chief operating officer Antony Cahill's remuneration was $2.5 million last year and $2.1 million in 2015.

Mr Baird said he was "humbled" by the number of job offers he received after resigning from office on January 19, with NAB's being the most attractive, but it was important to have a break before he started the role to spend time with his family.

"I didn't really expect that sort of deluge, but ultimately what was very clear to me was this was the best," Mr Baird said.

He also defended the speed that it took him to find a new job after citing family ill-health as the reason for his resignation, saying that he needed to find employment quickly since changes to parliamentary entitlements meant he was no longer eligible for an annual salary.

"Personally for me I still needed to have some time and the next six weeks of  my life I think may well be the best because I've got security in that there's a job - that's important obviously because of the 2007 changes to MPs [pensions] I will still need employment  - but I will still be able to spend time with my family."

Entitlements to former MPs were scaled back in 2007, so Mr Baird will not be entitled to a post-parliament pension, nor perks such as staff, an office and free travel.

Mr Baird said the first step to rebuilding the banking sector's reputation amid public dissatisfaction and growing calls for a royal commission into their behaviour was to acknowledge a problem existed. 

"Ultimately all of the noise around the banking sector is an acknowledge that from a customer point of view… they have a sense that banks aren't necessary listening to them," he said.

"They aren't responding to their needs and they are distant in terms of living different lives themselves and not understanding the challenges on a day to day basis."

Mr Baird started his career as a banker in 1989 at NAB's St Ives branch in Sydney before moving into corporate banking.

He worked for Deutsche Bank and HSBC at home and abroad before entering politics.

"His time as treasurer and premier of NSW means he returns to banking and NAB with invaluable experience in leading economic and financial reform to grow the economy," NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn said in a statement.

"Mike has outstanding leadership and a determination to drive change and make a difference by building relationships with customers and the community."

Although NAB is headquartered in Melbourne, Mr Baird will be based in Sydney.

Mr Thorburn said Mr Baird's appointment followed an "extensive" global search.

"I know most will know [Mr Baird] as the premier of NSW and before that treasurer and MP for Manly but for the 17 years before Mike going into politics in 2007 he was a banker and as treasurer of NSW you need to be very competent and Mike has done very well in building the finances of NSW," Mr Thorburn said.

"He brings a knowledge of banking and finance but I think he brings a passion for NAB."

NAB has an extensive political pedigree. Federal Minister for Revenue and Financial Services Kelly O'Dwyer was a senior investment executive at the bank between 2007 and her preselection 2009.

And Minister for Industry Arthur Sinodinos was a senior executive in NAB's institutional arm before taking up a Senate vacancy in 2011.   

Earlier this month Mr Thorburn, who is also chairman of the Australian Bankers' Association, appointed former Queensland premier Anna Bligh as the banking lobby group's CEO.  

Mr Baird will replace Cathryn Carver, who has been acting chief customer officer for corporate and institutional banking.

Mr Baird's election in 2007 as state member for Sydney's coastal electorate of Manly returned the seat to the Liberal Party after 16 years of independent rule.

After a spell as shadow treasurer, he became treasurer when the Liberal and National coalition won power in 2011 and took on the premiership three years later when Barry O'Farrell resigned.

Mr Baird was elected leader unopposed at a party-room meeting and sworn in as 44th premier of NSW, pressing on with his successful plan to privatise the NSW electricity network following the coalition's 2015 re-election.

But Greens MP David Shoebridge said the unseemly haste of Mr Baird's switch into the private sector created the potential for a conflict of interest. 

"Who better, if you want access to the Berejiklian cabinet, than a premier who largely belongs to her factional grouping?" Mr Shoebridge said.

"His influence won't be in small groupings or representations. His influence will be a cup of coffee over the weekend or catching up with drinks or the extraordinarily broad social connections he has with the Liberal party, and for a bank that wants political access, that's invaluable.

"The government should legislate to prevent ministers entering a sector where they had direct responsibility for 12 to 24  months after they left office, and premiers should be compensated with a pension for that period.

"That would be a payment to improve the look, feel and integrity of NSW politics."

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