(29 September 2005 – Australia) National Australia Bank has announced it will invest A$1.8 billion in rebuilding its Australian business over the next three years.The bank admitted its branch network and technology needed a major overhaul after years of under investment in the bank’s infrastructure.
“In 2006 and beyond, the investment mix will shift towards projects that give us bottom line returns and rejuvenate our systems and infrastructure,” NAB chief executive officer, Australia, Ahmed Fahour said.
“This includes investments in our retail branch network, re-engineering of our lending processes and building new products and services for our customers,” he said.
Fahour said the bank was half way through a three year turnaround.
He said the business had been stabilised and the bank was now embarking on a rebuilding phase.
Fahour said the bank would continue to launch new products, pointing to the recently rolled out business cash maximiser and online deposits products.
He said the bank was still inefficient compared to best practice and that underlying cost growth would be kept under three percent per annum on average over the next three years.
Fahour said the 1000 job cuts announced in May had been completed and that another 1000 jobs would go over the next two years.