Finance Sector Union of Australia
NAB CEO 'INADVERTENT BREACHES' CAUSE FOR BROADER CONCERN
16 November 2018
The NAB's reported admission that chief executive Andrew Thorburn had breached the bank's policies inadvertently on a small number of occasions and had been cleared of wrong-doing by the NAB Board are matters of deep concern, said Finance Sector Union National Secretary Julia Angrisano.
"These 'inadvertent breaches' are exactly the sort of thing that National Australia Bank would not tolerate in its junior staff and would have no hesitation in throwing them under the bus," Ms Angrisano said.
"The hypocrisy is breathtaking – it's do as I say, not do as I do. The notion that the inadvertent breach is investigated by the Board is extraordinary."
"Presumably the rest of NAB's staff, more than 30,000 employees, will have the same right in the event they inadvertently breach a policy."
Ms Angrisano said the FSU was not suggesting that Mr Thorburn had done anything wrong.
When asked by a Parliamentary Committee (19 October 2018) about 1200 NAB staff investigated for breaches, Mr Thorburn said:
"…but I don't think there will be many in that group that will be very senior people, because it's behaviour and you expect that, when people get to very senior levels, they know the code of conduct and they live by it…"
"Earlier this year, the senior executive tasked with overseeing the financial planning divisions exposed in the Royal Commission left the NAB with a payout of $796 000."
"There's a pattern of hypocrisy developing here, and it should be deeply worrying for investors," Ms Angrisano said.
