Outgoing NAB directors tell of regrets on pay revamp, chief of staff fraud

National Australia Bank’s two outgoing directors have cited an ill-timed revamp of executive pay and the failure to spot a prominent insider’s multi million-dollar fraud as their biggest regrets in nearly a decade at the Big Four lender.

Anne Loveridge and Doug McKay provided their rare admissions after being asked by a shareholder at NAB’s marathon annual general meeting in Melbourne to reflect on their time with the bank as they prepared to step down after a combined 17 years on the board.

For Ms Loveridge, her role as chair of NAB’s remuneration committee in a 2018 executive pay shake-up that benefited the bank’s bosses just before they were castigated by the banking royal commission still rankles.

The revised remuneration report later triggered NAB’s first ever strike after an unprecedented 88 per cent shareholder vote against the changes.

“With hindsight, that was a poor time to change and the (new pay) framework had a number of flaws in it that were not evident to us at the time until we were facing into such a difficult year,” Ms Loveridge told shareholders on Wednesday.

“So if I had my time again, we wouldn’t do that.”

Mr McKay’s biggest regret as a NAB director? Not identifying earlier the fraudulent behaviour of Rosemary Rogers, a chief of staff to chief executives Andrew Thorburn and Cameron Clyne, who was jailed for eight years in 2021 for inflating invoices from an events company.

“Regrets? As the song goes, I’ve had a few,” Mr McKay said.

“The biggest one for me is not identifying earlier the fraud perpetuated by our chief of staff on the bank. That’s something we all have to live with and take responsibility and ownership for.”

As is becoming common at ASX200 AGMs, questions from climate activists about the NAB’s environmental policies dominated the gathering, pushing it out to nearly 4½ hours.

Earlier, shareholders heard NAB management believe favourable business conditions and a resilient jobs market has the bank positioned to take advantage of a “reasonable” economy, despite cost-of-living pressures weighing on many customers.

“Despite headwinds internationally and domestically, Australia’s economy is in reasonable shape and we are optimistic about the long-term outlook,” said new NAB chief executive Andrew Irvine, who took over from Ross McEwan in April.

“Business conditions are favourable and the job market is resilient, positioning us well compared with global peer economies,” Mr Irvine told the AGM.

He said “restrictive” interest rates were pulling inflation back to within the Reserve Bank’s target range, supporting NAB’s expectation of rate cuts in the first half of 2025.

“In the meantime, we do recognise that many customers are finding the high cost of living challenging,” he said.

“Our message is clear – please call us and call us early.”

NAB last month posted a $7.1 billion annual cash profit on lower revenue and higher costs, down 8.1 per cent on the year earlier.

Shares in the bank were 20¢ lower at $38.00 just before the close of the ASX.