When Cameron Clyne took over NAB as its chief executive, he says one of his major goals was to improve the bank’s reputation. NAB is Australia’s largest bank measured by assets, but has the smallest presence in the retail sector, and during a speech Monday at a luncheon for the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Clyne claimed that was due to some of NAB’s past actions although he did not give specifics.

As the first result of that decision, in September, NAB eliminated overdrawn account fees, forcing Australia’s other major banks to follow suit. In October, NAB continued rebuilding its reputation by eliminating credit penalty fees for late payments and spending over limits, as well as the account service fees on two retail transaction accounts.

Mr. Clyne reported that NAB’s customer service complaints dropped 40% in the month.

He also claimed new accounts have soared by 600%, existing customers are no longer moving their accounts to competing banks, and customer satisfaction ratings have soared. Other improvements underway for NAB include increasing the number and location of retail branches for customer convenience, and microlending larger sums to the underprivileged without seeking profit. At the same time, Mr. Clyne admitted there remained room for improvement in NAB’s relationships with its clientele.

Another discussion item in Mr. Clyne’s speech involved Australia’s vulnerability to international economic shocks due to its heavy reliance on offshore funding. Referring to it as “one of the great weak spots of the Australian economy,” Mr. Clyne called for open debate on finding ways of replacing offshore funding with the goal of reducing the impact of future shocks.

“We can think about sensible structural solutions to minimise future shocks, because the only thing I can be certain of is that we’ll have another shock.”

Source: news.smh.com.au