(20 April 2004 – Australia) National Australia Bank chairman Graham Kraehe has quit his role as director of Rupert Murdoch owned media group News Corp.Kraehe joined the News Corp board in January 2001 and also chaired the media giant’s audit committee.
Kraehe said he would resign all board positions when he took over as NAB chairman from Charles Allen in the wake of the bank’s $360 million forex losses.
However, he will stay on as chairman of BlueScope Steel.
During the week, NAB’s share price took a dive after investors deserted the bank, wiping off almost A$2 billion dollars off the bank’s market value.
Confidence in the bank dipped after it warned first half earnings could be down by some five percent.
NAB said it had suffered a loss on its sale of AMP shares while the UK operation was impacted by the rising Australian dollar.