NAB transformation and structural shake-up expected to save $800m annually
- 13 March, 2013 09:54
National Australia Bank (NAB) has revealed a shake-up of its organisational structure and products portfolio expected to save the group up to $800m annually.
NAB Group CEO Cameron Clyne said its technology investment and strategy over the past four years had triggered a transformation of the bank. As part of its revised plans, the bank said it will focus on digitisation, streamlining its product suite, and centralising operations to remove duplication.
“Since 2009 we have made the hard but right decisions to deliver a more balanced and sustainable Australian franchise with greater balance sheet strength, a stronger reputation and improved productivity,” Clyne said. “Our total technology transformation program is progressing well with the core infrastructure upgrade nearing completion and NextGen well advanced.
“The opportunities created by this investment in technology enable us to align our business structure to the changing environment and changing customer behaviours. In a digitised world, we need to ensure we can meet the future needs of our customers regardless of when, how and where they choose to deal with us.”
NAB announced continued investment of more than $1bn per annum in the business to complete the latest changes, and also flagged new store layouts and improvements to customer management on the back of more effective use of data and analytics.
The bank expects to save $800m annually by the end of next year, Clyne said, although this will be partly offset by higher software charges, reinvestment and implementation costs.
NAB is also restructuring its executive team to deliver the new strategy. The changes see Rick Sawers move from group executive of Wholesale Banking to group executive, Products and Markets. Current group executive of Personal Banking, Lisa Gray, will take on the newly-created role of group executive, Enterprise Services and Transformation, reflecting the consolidation of systems and technology functions.
Gavin Slater, who was in charge of the technology transformation as group executive of Group Business Services, will take over Personal Banking from Gray. Group executive of People, Marketing and Communications, Andrew Hagger, will also assume responsibility for Asia, plus the Private Banking and the Financial Institutions group, while Michaela Healey, the current group executive of Group Governance and Legal, will see her role expanded to People, Communications and Governance.
NAB also announced the retirement of executive director of finance, Mark Joiner, at the end of the year after a seven-year stint. An internal and external search for a replacement is now underway.
The structural changes come into effect from April, although NAB said the new financial reporting structure is not expected to take effect until the 2014 financial year.
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