NAB outed as worst compliance offender

Following questioning from committee chair and Labor MP Andrew Leigh, NAB chief executive Ross McEwan confirmed the bank had committed the highest number of breaches in the banking code compliance committee’s recent report.

In the period July to December 2019, the bank committed 45 breaches of the code per $1 billion of household deposits, which made it the top offender out of the big four and Australian banks in general.

Mr McEwan said work was already underway to improve the bank’s record, which he said was concentrated around a small number of broader problem areas.

“The vast majority [of breaches] were picked up over four to five areas that we are working to clean up on behalf of our customers and the bank,” Mr McEwan said.

Mr Leigh disparaged the bank for having “the worst record of the majors” and said a number of other banks appearing before the committee had used an increase in reporting as an excuse for the high number of breaches detected.

“Everyone tells me they only do badly because they are very diligent in reporting, but it doesn’t explain why NAB is top of the list,” Mr Leigh said.

In its report submitted late last month, the code compliance committee noted that it was unsure whether the consistent increase in breaches across all of the banks had to do with better reporting by institutions or the degradation of consumer protections.

“The committee has long held a view that some banks continuously under-report on their compliance with the code,” the committee’s chair said in a statement.

“We are still unable to conclude definitively whether the increase in breaches reported each year represents a deterioration in bank conduct, or is a demonstration that banks are better able to identify and fix problems.”

The Commonwealth Bank had outed itself at a previous hearing as the second-biggest offender when it came to banking code breaches, with between 30 to 35 breaches per $1 billion of deposits.