Ralph Norris

Last updated

Sir Ralph Norris KNZM (born 1949) is an Australasian business leader, knighted for services to New Zealand business in 2009. [1] He transitioned from CIO to CEO, leading business and culture transformations across different industries. Currently[ when? ] the chairman of Craigs Investment Partners, Norris has held several chair and board roles and was previously CEO of ASB Bank (1991–2001), [2] Air New Zealand (2002–2005) [2] and the Commonwealth Bank Group (2005–2011). [3] While at ASB, Norris was instrumental in the launch of New Zealand’s first automatic teller machines and Eftpos technology. [4] He is known for his business turnaround acumen and 'no surprises' approach, demonstrating a practical and down-to-earth style. He led the banking industry globally in moving executive long-term incentives (LTIs) away from purely financial performance, linking them for the first time to customer satisfaction. [2] Norris is a honorary Fellow of the Institute of IT Professionals, an ambassador of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Business by the University of New South Wales in 2012, and was inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame in 2014. [4] He is a strong advocate of tertiary education. [4]

Contents

Norris was appointed Distinguished Companion of NZ Order of Merit in the 2006 New Year Honours List. This was later redesigned as Knight Companion in August 2009 as a result of the reinstatement of the appellations of "Sir" and "Dame" to the New Zealand Royal Honours System.

Early career

Starting as a cadet at the Mobil Oil Company, Sir Ralph soon joined the Auckland Savings Bank (now ASB Bank) in 1969. He was employed in the technology department, promoted to Chief Information Officer (CIO) and then became ASB’s CEO in 1991, at the age of 41. [5]

ASB Bank (CEO 1991–2001)

When Sir Ralph became CEO, ASB was a mainly Auckland-based savings bank, ranked seventh in size of New Zealand’s banks, with BNZ was six times bigger. The transformation of ASB’s culture, technology, customer experience and business performance during Sir Ralph’s tenure as CEO was significant [5] and led to Sir Ralph being appointed to lead the Commonwealth Bank Group’s international operations. In his decade as CEO, ASB grew into a full-service, national bank and delivered top rankings for customer service each year. [6] The bank also delivered organic market share growth, [7]

Air New Zealand (CEO 2002–2005)

Following September 11 and the collapse of its Australian subsidiary, Ansett Australia, Air New Zealand reported the country’s largest ever financial loss. To prevent the national airline’s collapse, the New Zealand government was forced to inject over $885 million in capital, taking a majority share in the airline. [8] Sir Ralph, who had been retained on the Air New Zealand Board, was offered the CEO role, taking the reins in early 2002. Under his leadership, the airline became a global success story, establishing itself as Australasia’s most profitable airline and launching a number of product innovations and new aircraft types. [8] As CEO, Sir Ralph returned the airline to profitability within 24 months and launched complete overhauls of the domestic and international products. [8] He also introduced the A320, Boeing 777 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft which continue to be the backbone of the airline’s fleet, and he oversaw a ten-fold increase in internet bookings from 4% to 48% of total sales volumes in twelve months. [9] The 'look to book' ratio also rose dramatically, from 25:1 to 8:1. [9]

Commonwealth Bank Group (CEO 2005–2011)

Sir Ralph was approached by the Commonwealth Bank Board to become CEO, taking over from David Murray in mid-2005. [10] Over the next six and a half years, Sir Ralph transformed CBA in terms of culture, shareholder value, market share and technology. He also invested in the redevelopment of the branch network and growth of business banking. Sir Ralph linked executive long-term incentives to customer satisfaction and this move, amongst others, drove an improvement in customer experience levels which saw the bank rise from worst to best of the major Australian banks, across every business area, closing a 23-point gap. [11] In 2010, Sir Ralph was named Customer Service CEO of the Year by the Australian Customer Service Institute, the only bank CEO to ever be awarded this accolade. The same year, he was also named Banker of the Year and Banker of the Decade by Banking & Finance Magazine, along with being named New Zealand CEO of the Decade and Maori Business Leader of the Year in his home country. Over his time as CEO, CBA’s share of industry Ombudsman complaints fell dramatically from 30% to 18%, [10] at the same time as the bank’s market share grew from 21% to 24%. [12] Sir Ralph oversaw a rise in employee engagement to world’s best practice levels and a two third increase in the share price. [12] The rise in shareholder value saw CBA Group move from being the fifth largest company on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), to the largest [10] and, in 2009, CBA purchased BankWest from UK-based HBOS Group. [13] Also in 2009, Sir Ralph launched the replacement of the bank’s then 40-year-old core banking system – a project that achieved international note for its unique project management approach and successful delivery. [12]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Paredes, Divina (21 April 2013). "What is the next challenge for Sir Ralph Norris?". CIO. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Stock, Rob (17 February 2018). "The ascent and descent of Sir Ralph Norris". Stuff. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  3. ↑ "CBA surprise: CEO Norris to retire". The Sydney Morning Herald. 21 July 2011. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 "World Class New Zealand". Kea New Zealand. Dec 2016.
  5. 1 2 "Ralph Norris". Commonwealth Bank of Australia. 14 Jun 2005.
  6. ↑ "Switched on CEO: Ralph Norris, Commonwealth Bank of Australia" Start Technology In Business. 30 Jan 2008.
  7. ↑ "Banking Bad: The New Zealander who put the hard-sell into Australian banks" Stuff New Zealand. 5 Aug 2019.
  8. 1 2 3 "Unfinished Business: Why Ralph Norris is flying Air NZ". New Zealand Management | Inspiring Business Leaders. 4 Apr 2002.
  9. 1 2 "Air NZ posts $165.7 million profit". New Zealand Herald. 28 Aug 2003.
  10. 1 2 3 "Sir Ralph Norris defends his record at top of big banks". Stuff New Zealand. 10 Aug 2019.
  11. ↑ "Building a culture of customer service". Commonwealth Bank of Australia. May 2013.
  12. 1 2 3 "Commonwealth Bank/Ralph Norris". Eureka Report. 1 Jun 2007.
  13. ↑ "Norris: business as usual". Financial Review. 9 Oct 2008.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commonwealth Bank</span> Australian multinational bank

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), or CommBank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. It provides a variety of financial services, including retail, business and institutional banking, funds management, superannuation, insurance, investment, and broking services. The Commonwealth Bank is the largest Australian listed company on the Australian Securities Exchange as of August 2015, with brands including Bankwest, Colonial First State Investments, ASB Bank, Commonwealth Securities (CommSec) and Commonwealth Insurance (CommInsure).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ANZ Bank New Zealand</span> Retail bank in New Zealand

ANZ Bank New Zealand Limited is a New Zealand banking and financial services company, which operates as a subsidiary of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited of Australia. ANZ is one of New Zealand's big four banks, and is the largest bank in New Zealand with approximately 30% of market share as of March 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ASB Bank</span> Bank in New Zealand

ASB Bank Limited, commonly stylised as ASB, is a bank owned by Commonwealth Bank of Australia, operating in New Zealand. It provides a range of financial services including retail, business and rural banking, funds management, as well as insurance through its Sovereign Limited subsidiary, and investment and securities services through its ASB Group Investments and ASB Securities divisions. ASB also operated BankDirect, a branchless banking service that provides service via phone, Internet, EFTPOS and ATMs only.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bank of New Zealand</span> Financial institution in New Zealand

Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) is one of New Zealand's big four banks and has been operating in the country since the first office was opened in Auckland in October 1861 followed shortly after by the first branch in Dunedin in December 1861. The bank operates a variety of financial services covering retail, business and institutional banking and employs over 5,000 people in New Zealand. In 1992 the bank was purchased by the National Australia Bank and has since then operated as a subsidiary, but it retains local governance with a New Zealand board of directors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ANZ (bank)</span> Australian multinational bank

The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. It is Australia's second-largest bank by assets and fourth-largest bank by market capitalisation.

Gail Kelly is a South African-born Australian businesswoman. In 2002, she became the first female CEO of a major Australian bank or top 15 company and in 2005 was the highest paid woman in an Australian corporation. She is the former chief executive officer (CEO) of Westpac, a role she held from 2008 to 2015. In 2010 Kelly was named 8th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes and as of 2014, she is listed in 56th place.

CommSec is Australia's largest online stockbroking firm. It is a subsidiary of the Commonwealth Bank.

Sir Gilbert Simpson is a New Zealand businessman and computer programmer.

The history of Air New Zealand, the national carrier of New Zealand, began when the amalgamated East Coast Airways and Cook Strait Airways began operations in January 1936 as Union Airways of New Zealand, the country's first major airline. Union Airways was the sole New Zealand aviation partner in Tasman Empire Airways Limited (TEAL), which made its inaugural flight in 1940. The New Zealand Government bought full ownership of TEAL in 1961 and the airline was renamed Air New Zealand in 1965. New Zealand's domestic airline, National Airways Corporation (NAC), was merged with Air New Zealand in 1978. Air New Zealand was privatised in 1989 but in 2001 the New Zealand Government took up 80% ownership in return for injecting $885 million after the airline ran into financial difficulty. In November 2013, the National government sold down its share in Air New Zealand from 73% to 53% as part of its controversial asset sales programme.

Databank Systems Limited was the name of a not-for-profit "off balance sheet" company set up by a consortium of competing banks in New Zealand, to operate on what is nowadays termed a "Shared services Agency" basis, to provide computing resources for the consortium members. The company was set up in 1967, and in 12 years grew to be the largest non-Government data processing organisation in the Southern Hemisphere, servicing more than 1,200 banking offices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westpac</span> Australian multinational bank

Westpac Banking Corporation, known simply as Westpac, is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered at Westpac Place in Sydney, New South Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rob Fyfe</span> New Zealand businessman

Robert Ian Fyfe is a New Zealand businessman and a former chief executive officer (CEO) of New Zealand national airline Air New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">POLi Payments</span> Australasian financial service provider

POLi Payments Pty Ltd is an online payments company based in Melbourne, Australia. It is the developer and provider of POLi, an online payment system that is used by merchants and customers in Australia and New Zealand. POLi Payments was acquired by SecurePay Holdings, a fully owned subsidiary of Australia Post, in December 2014.

Simon Paul Moutter is a New Zealand engineer and businessman, and was Managing Director of Spark New Zealand from 1 September 2012 to 30 June 2019. He is currently appointed as a non-exec Director for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Co-operative Bank (New Zealand)</span> New Zealand cooperative bank

The Co-operative Bank is a New Zealand based and registered bank. It provides everyday banking, deposits, savings, loans, insurance and small-business banking throughout the country.

Ian Mark Narev is the CEO of SEEK Limited. He is a former managing director and chief executive officer of the Commonwealth Bank Group commencing these roles on 1 December 2011 and being succeeded by Matt Comyn.

Ross Maxwell McEwan is a New Zealand banker, and the chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director of National Australia Bank.

Andrew Thorburn is an Australian-based businessman. Andrew Thorburn is a former CEO of Bank of NZ (BNZ), and also of National Australia Bank (NAB).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TymeBank</span> South African digital bank

TymeBank is an exclusively digital bank based in South Africa, aimed at the lower income market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand</span> Pandemic in New Zealand

The global COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the New Zealand economy. New Zealand has a mixed economy – a free market with some state ownership and control. In mid-March 2020, the New Zealand Government imposed a four-tier alert level system, which placed much of the country's economy into lockdown with the exception of "essential services" such as supermarkets. Due to the success of the Government's elimination strategy, lockdown restrictions on various economic activities were progressively lifted between April and June 2020.

References

Business positions
Preceded by
Gary Toomey
 Chief executive officer of Air New Zealand
2002–2005		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.