Ex-Commonwealth Bank CEO Ian Narev joins Seek as COO

Former Commonwealth Bank CEO Ian Narev has resurfaced at jobs website Seek.

Ian Narev. Picture: AAP

Jobs website Seek Limited has named former Commonwealth bank CEO Ian Narev as its next group chief operating officer.

Mr Narev will serve as CEO for Seek’s Asia Pacific and the Americas business.

Mr Narev retired from CBA in mid-2018 after the bank was hit by a money-laundering probe by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC).

He is due to start his new role with the online job search company on 29 April.

“I am delighted that Ian will be joining SEEK and that we will benefit from his track record of being a proven, successful CEO of a complex organisation, with deep strategic thinking ability and an excellent understanding of the disruptive impact of technology,” Seek CEO Andrew Bassat said in a statement.

Mr Narev would work with Mr Bassat on “strategy development and operating priorities for the SEEK Group overall”, the statement said.

The move is a significant change of gear for Mr Narev, coming from a role where he ran the nation’s biggest bank. With a current market capitalisation of $126 billion, Commonwealth Bank vies with BHP for the title of Australia’s biggest company on that measure.

Seek is well-known but tiny in comparison, with a market capitalisation of $6.1 billion.

Mr Bassat said he would remain in the CEO role for “a number of years” and that he planned to work in partnership with Mr Narev.

“Every sensible organisation should have successors in place. But Ian and I have made commitments to each other in terms of our time frame and this will very much be a partnership between us. I hope this will re-energise me. I plan to remain in my role for a number of years.

“That is the plan. I have no plans to step down,’’ Mr Bassat told The Australian this morning.

“In some ways I feel this has been a wonderful coup to attract a person of Ian’s calibre to a smaller business than CBA. He had no intention of getting back into public life after he left the bank. But he got excited by the opportunity Seek had in front of it. He has a real passion to make Seek a better company. He has a great strategic mind but has also run complicated businesses. It is rare you meet a person who can do both.”

Mr Narev will remain based in Sydney and commute to Melbourne.

His appointment follows the recent announcement of Michael Ilczynski stepping down from the AP&A CEO role at Seek to take an extended leave of absence from mid-July 2019.

Mr Bassat dismissed suggestions Mr Narev’s reputation had been damaged by the findings of the Hayne royal commission.

“I have really high confidence from my personal dealings with him that Ian has strong integrity and values. With regard to the royal commission, there is perception and reality. I dont think in Ian’s case the reality goes to integrity and his motivation. I have no doubt he was trying to make the bank a better place and fix everything he could. The royal commission showed all the banks could have done better,’’ he said.

Mr Bassat and Mr Narev first met when they visited China on a business delegation with Prime Minister Tony Abbott in 2014.