‘Nothing to prove’: New Seek COO Ian Narev speaks out about his time at Commonwealth Bank

Ian Narev speaks for the first time since the royal commission about his role as boss of a troubled CBA.

New Seek COO Ian Narev says he taken accountability for his time at the helm of Commonwealth Bank. Picture: Hollie Adams

New Seek chief operating officer and Asia Pacific and Americas boss Ian Narev says he feels he has nothing to prove to his critics and believes he has taken his “share of accountability” for the problems that led to his departure from the nation’s largest bank, CBA.

“I understand there are people out there who are critical of me and my time at CBA. They have, in many cases, good reasons to be. This move isn’t about responding to that. It is not part of the mindset at all,’’ Mr Narev told The Australian on Tuesday of his decision to take on the Seek role.

Mr Narev’s exit from Commonwealth Bank last year followed a spate of compliance failings at the bank, including a scandal in its financial planning unit and action by AUSTRAC relating to breaches of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing rules.

CBA ultimately agreed to pay a $700 million penalty to resolve Federal Court proceedings relating to “serious breaches”, representing the largest civil penalty in Australian corporate history.

In his first public comments on the findings of the Hayne royal commission, Mr Narev said what it “showed is that the incidents of really bad outcomes for customers of CBA were well above tolerance.

“I have to take my share of accountability for that. And I do that. Having led a major bank, it has an impact on how I am perceived and I have to live with that,’’ he said.

“This isn’t about showing or proving anything to anybody. Particularly for a guy like (Seek chief executive) Andrew Bassat, this should never be about me and what I have to prove. It has to be what is right for Seek.”

Asked to comment on the future for CBA, which escaped more lightly than industry rivals NAB and AMP in the Hayne findings, Mr Narev replied: “It was an enormous privilege running the bank. The moment you leave you leave and put it behind you and let better people do the job,’’ he said.

Mr Narev is believed to remain a strong supporter of CBA CEO Matt Comyn.

Mr Narev, who is on the board of the Sydney Theatre Trust and had been working in private equity since leaving CBA, said he had “had initially reached the view” that he would not do another corporate role.

“But this was really a unique conversation and a unique opportunity. I was thinking about it for a while,’’ he said.

“I have to take my share of accountability for that. And I do that. Having led a major bank, it has an impact on how I am perceived and I have to live with that.

Seek ran a “dual-track” process to replace Michael Ilczynski, who announced last month he was stepping down from the AP & A CEO role at Seek to take an extended leave of absence from mid-July 2019.

While Egon Zhender conducted an internal search, Mr Bassat and Seek directors engaged with Mr Narev.

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

“I knew Andrew a bit when I was at CBA. We got chatting at various business events. This guy is an outstanding entrepreneur with great values and has built an outstanding Australian success story. “We stayed in touch after I left CBA. The more we talked about the business, the more interesting it looked. The strategic opportunities and the challenges for Seek are really significant,” Mr Narev said.

“Then in the course of those discussions, Andrew said ‘I would like you to come help me run Seek as a partner’ … We got to a point after the summer break where both of us had to say ’Is this a realistic possibility or not?’.”

“For Seek they had to do their own thinking. And for me, it was clear the company was extraordinary and unique. From my perspective the big question was a personal one. Is the executive life something I want to go back to? But this job is very different from what I have done in the past.”

Mr Narev stressed he would be working in partnership with Mr Bassat.

Asked if he had one more CEO role left in him, he replied: “It was critical to me as I was doing my thinking that I was doing this to partner with Andrew. That is a big part of why I am at Seek.

“Being the CEO for the CEO’s sake, even at CBA, was not per se an attraction for me. Andrew is clearly the No. 1 guy. We are working in partnership but there is no doubt who the top dog is. I am totally comfortable with that,’’ he said.

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

Seek CEO Andrew Bassat. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

“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.

“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.

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 don’t 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.

With Joyce Moullakis