National Australia Bank earlier today announced the appointment of Ahmed Fahour to a new role of Australian chief executive officer and Michael Ullmer as group chief financial officer. Both will also be appointed executive directors of the NAB group board - a break with the bank's normal practice."This is an important step toward rejuvenating the National and placing it on a path to sustainable growth in shareholder returns," NAB chief executive John Stewart said."I am delighted to be able to make two appointments that bring such a wealth of Australian and international experience to the National."In a "back to the future" move to a regional business model, Fahour will be responsible for retail financial services, corporate and institutional banking and wealth management in Australia.Fahour is aged 37 and his commercial banking experience was at Citigroup, which he joined in 2000 as head of corporate development reporting to the CEO/chairman and where he was a member of the management committee.At Citigroup, he developed performance reporting systems, analysed merger and acquisition opportunities and improved cross selling opportunities within Citigroup. He was vice chairman of Citigroup Investments and CEO Alternative Investments before becoming CEO of Citigroup Australia and New Zealand earlier this year.Fahour held various positions with Boston Consulting Group over 13 years prior to joining Citigroup.He will join NAB in October on a four-year contract worth $1.5 million in cash, and up to $3.65 million in short and long-term equity incentives, in the first year.In addition, he gets a signing-on fee of $3.7 million in cash and a further $9.45 million in shares and performance options.Ullmer was group executive, institutional and business services at Commonwealth Bank until earlier this year. A chartered accountant, he joined CBA in 1997 as chief financial officer after stints with KPMG and Coopers and Lybrand. From 1987, he headed up KPMG's Australasian banking practice and was the lead engagement partner on the ANZ audit. In 1992, he joined Coopers & Lybrand as chairman of the firm's Asia-Pacific financial services group.Ullmer joins NAB in September, also on a four-year contract, worth $1 million in cash, and up to $2.3 million in short and long-term equity incentives in the first year. He gets $1 million in performance options and performance rights as a signing-on fee. NAB has also hired former Bank of Melbourne chief executive Rob Giles as general manager internal audit. While the position is still part of the risk management division, currently headed by acting executive general manager Graeme Willis, Giles will have a stronger reporting line directly to the group's board audit committee.Before joining NAB, Giles was chief financial officer in Coles Myers' financial services division and CFO at CGU Insurance.The bank's internal audit function came in for some criticism over the currency options trading scandal earlier this year and former head of audit, Ann Jackson, is understood to be heading up a Sarbanes-Oxley compliance project in group finance.Former head of market risk, Tzu Ming Lao, another general manager criticised over the $360 million options losses