Cameron Clyne retires as chief executive of the National Australia Bank: Meet his successor

Cameron Clyne is retiring as chief executive of National Australia Bank in August this year and Andrew Thorburn will take his place in the top job.

Thorburn will earn less than Clyne but still takes home a base salary of $2.2 million a year and is eligible for a short term bonus of 100% of his base salary and a long term bonus of 130% of base salary in performance rights.

Clyne said in a statement this morning that his time as CEO of NAB was the most rewarding role of his career, but the job had taken a personal toll and it was now time to retire from executive life.

He said the bank had “built a strong foundation for future growth” but acknowledged the difficulty of “legacy issues”.

Clyne has been at the helm for five years during which time he has copped some flak over job cuts and just last week announcing the closure of 28 NAB branches in the UK. 

Clyne said he was leaving to spend “much-needed time” with his young family.

Clyne’s successor, Thorburn, is currently the chief executive of the Bank of New Zealand, a role he has held since 2008.

NAB Chairman Michael Chaney said he was pleased that the bank’s succession planning processes had enabled the board to choose someone from within the organisation to take the top job.

He described Andrew Thorburn as an “outstanding” banking executive who has been part of the NAB Group Executive team that developed the bank’s successful strategy focusing on building a stronger Australian and NZ franchise.

During his time at BNZ Thorburn increased cash earnings by more than 40% and had responsibility for NAB’s Asian and US operations.

“As a member of the group executive team, [Thorburn’s] energy, vision and ability to motivate employees have been obvious as has his business acumen,” Chaney said in a statement.

Before being appointed chief executive of BNZ in 2008, Thorburn was executive general manager of retail Banking at NAB for three years.

He is a career banker who has spent more than 27 years working in the industry in Australia and NZ.