The Finance Sector Union of Australia (FSU) has long advocated for greater professionalism in the financial services sector and believes NAB's announcement about staff training was a welcome step forward.
Wendy Streets from the FSU has urged Australia's major banks and financial institutions to follow the NAB's lead on greater training for staff.
"We believe there should be broad agreement and a shared understanding of the ethics, community expectations and obligations of bankers no matter which institution a person works for," Ms Streets said.
"Research commissioned by the FSU and released earlier this year reveals bank staff face enormous levels of stress when their personal ethics conflict with a toxic sales culture and demands made on them to generate ever increasing profits."
"For this program to be successful, changes in work culture are non-negotiable."
"One of the issues the union constantly hears about from our members at NAB is that they are not given enough time to complete mandatory training, in fact any kind of training."
"So, we are pleased NAB has committed to a better training program for staff and that it will be done during normal working hours."
Ms Streets said professionalisation was a key component of the FSU's agenda and the union was ready to share its insights with the NAB and any other financial services institution which matched the bank's approach to staff training.
