Scandal-hit Australian bank cuts 300 staff
One of Australia’s largest banks admitted it has fired or let go 300 staff over wrongdoing, after a public inquiry into the country’s lenders uncovered widespread misconduct and rocked public confidence in the finance industry.
Andrew Thorburn, chief executive of National Australia Bank (NAB), told a Parliamentary committee of the Australian government that it had been a “difficult and shameful year” for the bank.
Following revelations made by the inquiry, NAB questioned more than 1,200 staff about compliance with the bank’s code of conduct and found 700 of those had acted inadequately.
Of these individuals, more than 300 were “either terminated or have left”, Mr Thorburn said.
"If there's anybody who's committed a fraud or absolute clear misconduct they're terminated immediately and files in many cases are handed straight to police," he added.
The major institution, worth A$69bn (£38bn) on the Sydney stock exchange, has set aside hundreds of millions of dollars for customer refunds and compliance costs arising from the scandal.
The public inquiry revealed NAB’s wealth management business had charged hundreds of thousands to pensioners for financial advice they never got.
Its report into misdeeds across the whole of Australia’s finance industry was published last month.
Among the misconduct unearthed was A$1bn of fees charged to customers for service they did not recieve, systemic mis-selling of financial advice, insurance premiums taken from dead customers and firms lying to regulators.
Retired high court judge Kenneth Hayne, who led the inquiry, said firms had too often been motivated by "the pursuit of short-term profit at the expense of basic standards of honesty".
Bank bosses have been hauled in front of MPs in recent weeks to account for their companies’ failings. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group said more than 200 of its staff had also been fired.
The scandal has knocked almost A$55bn from the market value of Australia's big four banks.
