If she stays then we’re off, say NAB directors
(20 April 2004 – Australia) In a bid to end the ructions that have led to an impasse in the National Australia Bank boardroom, seven of the bank’s non-executive directors have told shareholders that if they retain rebel director Catherine Walter, they will quit.
An extraordinary general meeting of NAB’s 340,000 shareholders will be held on 21 May to decide the fate of Walter and the other non-executive directors.
The directors – Kenneth Moss, Brian Clark, Graham Kraehe, John Thorn, Edward Tweddell, Peter Duncan, and Geoffrey Tomlinson – issued a letter to the bank’s shareholders asking them to remove Walter as director so that the board could "discharge effectively its duties to the company and its shareholders".
If the shareholders decide not to remove Walter, the directors said they had unanimously agreed to all resign from the board as soon as new directors were appointed.
"It is time to move on," the directors wrote.
"The board needs to do everything that it can to support John Stewart and his management team in improving the performance of the National, changing organisational culture and behavioural standards and in continuing to build shareholder value. We believe it is in the best interest of all stakeholders that we do so," they wrote.
The directors – Kenneth Moss, Brian Clark, Graham Kraehe, John Thorn, Edward Tweddell, Peter Duncan, and Geoffrey Tomlinson – issued a letter to the bank’s shareholders asking them to remove Walter as director so that the board could "discharge effectively its duties to the company and its shareholders".
If the shareholders decide not to remove Walter, the directors said they had unanimously agreed to all resign from the board as soon as new directors were appointed.
"It is time to move on," the directors wrote.
"The board needs to do everything that it can to support John Stewart and his management team in improving the performance of the National, changing organisational culture and behavioural standards and in continuing to build shareholder value. We believe it is in the best interest of all stakeholders that we do so," they wrote.
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