The Financial Services Union (FSU) has called on the Royal Commission to look more closely at NAB’s remuneration structures, in light of evidence from the back which it says “unveiled some of the worst excesses by any Australian bank which has severely disadvantaged customers”.
The FSU said it and its members had “watched with alarm” as the NAB’s wealth division’s fee structures came under fire.
“The evidence clearly shows that NAB bent over backwards to find a way to maintain fees,” FSU national secretary, Julia Angrisano, said.
“Charging fees for no service is bad enough but when a bank starts charging dead people for financial advice, it represents a new low.”
Angrisano also criticised the Commission, saying that it had “so far failed to examine in meaningful detail the impact of remuneration of senior executives on behaviours and we would like to see a detailed look at this issue before this Commission is over”.
“There is no doubt that there are deep and systemic cultural problems within the financial institutions, most recently at NAB Wealth,” she said. “There is also an urgent need to look closely at governance and cultural practices which are at the heart of the rotten core of Australian banking.”
