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Banking royal commission: NAB boss digging in after scathing report

VideoExecutives could face jail time as sweeping reforms are recommended.

NAB bosses Andrew Thorburn and Ken Henry are digging in, despite being singled out for harsh criticism in yesterday’s final report of the banking royal commission.

Commissioner Kenneth Hayne singled NAB out for particular criticism, saying he doubted NAB chairman Ken Henry and chief executive Andrew Thorburn had learned the lessons from the appalling behaviour exposed by his year of work.

“I was not persuaded that NAB is willing to accept the necessary responsibility for deciding, for itself, what is the right thing to do, and then having its staff act accordingly,” he said.

“I thought it telling that Dr Henry seemed unwilling to accept any criticism of how the board had dealt with some issues. I thought it telling that Mr Thorburn treated all issues of fees for no service as nothing more than carelessness combined with system deficiencies when the total amount to be repaid by NAB and NULIS on this account is likely to be more than $100 million.”

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Both men rejected that criticism in a statement to the stock exchange the morning, with Mr Thorburn saying the royal commission’s final report made very difficult reading for bank executives.

“As the CEO, this is very hard to read, and does not reflect who I am or how I am leading, nor the change that is occurring inside our bank. While we have made mistakes, I believe there is a lot of evidence that we are making sustainable and serious change to once again regain the trust of all our customers.”

Mr Thorburn said he had cancelled his long service leave to deal with the fallout from the royal commission’s report.

“I will lead this personally and visibly, and alongside NAB’s 33,000 employees who share my determination to be better for customers,” he said.

Dr Henry also rejected Commissioner Hayne’s criticism of his testimony in the final weeks of hearings.

“In his final report, Commissioner Hayne said I seemed unwilling to accept criticism of how the board had dealt with some of the issues raised by the Commission. I am disappointed that the Commissioner formed this view. I know that it is not so,” he said.

“The board and I have reflected deeply on those and other issues and, as I have said previously, we take them very seriously.

“We have said we are not prepared to accept good intentions where urgency, consistency and discipline is required. The board has led a deep examination of our culture, governance and accountability. We are the only bank to publicly release our assessment, which clearly outlines 26 areas we are focussing on to be a better bank.”

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