National Australia Bank controversies
Controversies tied to this brand in public sources. A listing is not a finding of fault.
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2026
NAB delays planned staff redundancies
Company response
National Australia Bank backed down on its plan to make more than 1,500 staff redundant before Christmas and agreed to keep workers facing involuntary redundancy, including those unable to find other roles at the bank, until January 27 following public and political backlash.
Company response
Personnel action — National Australia Bank
The big four banks will now keep staff who are made involuntarily redundant until January 27, five weeks later than planned.
Source excerpt
National Australia Bank has backed down on its plan to make more than 1500 staff redundant before Christmas, agreeing to give workers on the chopping block a reprieve following intense public and political backlash.
The big four banks will now keep staff who are made involuntarily redundant until January 27, five weeks later than planned. The new date also applies to workers who cannot find different roles at the bank.
2020
Class action filed over NAB pension trustees’ management
Lawsuit filed
A class action lawsuit against the National Australia Bank group alleges that its subsidiaries MLC Nominees and NULIS Nominees mismanaged pension assets and breached duties to beneficiaries. The allegations include leaving default members in products with unnecessarily high fees and paying commissions that were banned in the low-cost MySuper product. The report describes allegations, not a court determination.
Source excerpt
A class action lawsuit filed against the National Australia Bank group alleges that its subsidiaries MLC Nominees and NULIS Nominees mismanaged pension assets for its beneficiaries.
They contend the two firms left MasterKey Business Super and Personal Super default members in products with unnecessarily high fees and paying commissions to financial advisers that were banned in the low-cost MySuper product.
2019
NAB reports revised customer count for July data breach
Issue disclosure
In its annual review, National Australia Bank (NAB) reported that the number of customers affected by its July 2019 data breach was 11,500, revised down from 13,000. The breach followed human error that led to personal information being uploaded to two data service companies' servers. The review provided the revised customer count and described the cause as human error.
NAB’s annual review reported that the number of customers affected by its July 2019 data breach was 11,500, revised down from 13,000. The breach followed human error that led to personal information being uploaded to two data service companies’ servers.
Company response
Ongoing disclosure — NAB
The National Australia Bank has shed additional light on its July 2019 data breach incident, pruning the number of affected customers from 13,000 to 11,500
Source excerpt
The National Australia Bank has shed additional light on its July 2019 data breach incident, pruning the number of affected customers from 13,000 to 11,500
The July incident occurred due to human error when personal information, including identifiers like drivers licence details, government identity numbers, dates of birth and contact details were uploaded “to the servers of two data service companies”.
2004
Foreign-exchange trading fraud
Fraud by foreign-exchange traders exposed failures in controls and organisational culture. The episode contributed to the resignations of chief executive Frank Cicutto and chairman Charles Allen and preceded a major governance and management reset.