‘How did you miss it?’: NAB board grilled over fraud case

“I can’t go back and redo the past. I can only say to you that when we became aware of it, we significantly overhauled the controls around that,” he said.

“It was a shocking issue to arise, one that has been deeply embarrassing to this company. And one we have done our best to ensure could never happen again by completely overhauling all those controls.”

“I was as gobsmacked as you were when I observed what was going on,” Chronican added. “It was unbelievable we had a situation where that was allowed to occur and that’s why I have apologised and had overhaul of all controls of how expenditures operate.”

Like the other major banks, NAB also faced questioning over its funding of fossil fuel companies and projects, with protestors briefly crashing Friday’s meeting.

Environmental lobby group Market Forces raised issues about NAB’s loans to facilitate coal, oil and gas projects, in particular its funding of Whitehaven Coal.

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NAB’s policy bans directly financing greenfield gas extraction projects, unless the government declares a new project crucial to national energy security. Environment groups have criticised this, claiming it creates “massive loopholes” for the expansion of oil and gas.

NAB chief executive Ross McEwan said on Friday that the bank was reducing its exposure to fossil fuels in support of an orderly transition of the energy system, and was progressively redirecting funding from emissions intensive sectors toward low and zero emissions activity.

However, during the meeting activists began shouting “stop funding coal” while one woman stood on her chair with a gold trophy and said she wanted to present NAB with a “climate loophole award”.

They were all escorted out by security, with police also present. Protestors were also outside the venue before the meeting.

McEwan also told shareholders that 2023 would be a year of slower growth, with economic and global challenges continuing to emerge. However, he said he was optimistic and with resilient business conditions and increasing migration levels.

“Australia is well positioned to deal with headwinds coming from rising interest rates and high inflation”.

He said he expected low unemployment and robust business conditions to continue in the new year, though they will be slower than 2022.

“Many of our customers are now facing conditions they may not have experienced for a number of years,” he said. “Higher inflation, rising interest rates and slower growth are starting to impact both businesses and consumers. Thankfully, the vast majority of our customers are well positioned to manage.”

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