National Australia Bank chief executive Andrew Thorburn knows two former state premiers - and has been instrumental in finding jobs for both.
"But I think that's a pure coincidence," he said on Tuesday.
Two weeks after Mr Thorburn, who is also chairman of the Australian Bankers' Association, announced former Queensland premier Anna Bligh as ABA chief executive, he unveiled recently departed NSW premier Mike Baird as NAB's head of corporate and institutional banking.
"I've only really known two premiers and it just so happens in the past two weeks I've been involved in appointments for them" Mr Thorburn said.
Mr Thorburn pointed out he had made between 15 and 18 senior appointments in the past few years.
Nonetheless, he waxed lyrical about the positive effect a decade in politics will have on Mr Baird when he resumes his prior career as a corporate banker in April.
He said he'd regularly told Mr Baird to call him if he ever had enough of politics.
"He's a banker before he's a politician," Mr Thorburn said.
"What the political world will have done is harden him and tested him under pressure with fronting and making decisions and being accountable for them and having to explain them."
Mr Thorburn said the new job would be easy in comparison.
It should also be better paid.
NAB did not disclose Mr Baird's salary but executives in comparable positions may offer a guide.
Andrew Hagger and Angela Mentis - who lead the bank's consumer and wealth, and business and private units following a July 2016 restructure - were paid $4.1 million and $2.7 million respectively in 2015/16.
Mr Baird's total salary at the time of his resignation as NSW premier was $377,780.
Mr Baird showed his mettle by pushing through the privatisation of the NSW electricity network, a policy that previously led to the demise of former Labor premier Mike Iemma.
With continued rumblings about the power of the big banks and opposition calls for an industry royal commission, those political skills could come in handy.
"You learn to negotiate and build coalitions that have a clear purpose," Mr Thorburn said.
"I think politicians that get it right, that's the skill set they bring and I think that's Mike Baird's story as well."
