NAB To Repay Customers In Response To Bad Advice

On Friday, National Australia Bank announced that it was refunding $25 million to 62,000 wealth management customers after they were paid the incorrect amount of money on erroneous counts. The bank will pay an average of $400 to each of its customers, including interest. However, half the affected customers will receive less than $100.

Capital markets regulator confirmed that the payments would be directed towards clients who were affected when they opened accounts on the Navigator Wrap platform that NAB acquired when it bought Aviva six years back. However, the internal error that dated back to 2001 erupted when wealth customers were closing accounts.

The repayment announcements came just after a review was released by PricewaterhouseCoopers, or PwC, which was on a request forwarded by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission. The initiative, undertaken by ASIC after a scandal at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia hit the market, seeks to keep a check on financial planning and advice divisions.

NAB wealth group executive Andrew Hagger assured that his teams, with the help of PwC and ASIC, have worked very hard to ensure that processes and systems were in place. However, he confirmed that there has been no compromise with the quality of NAB services.

According to Fairfax Media, NAB has repaid a huge amount to 750 customers in the past as a result of bad financial advice. Hagger asserted that the bank has been doing its best to serve the interests of its customers by working on the modes of compensation.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, apart from NAB, there are other huge financial services institutions on ASIC’s list such as Macquarie Investment Management and ANZ banking group, which have also repayed when errors were reported. Reuters reported that at the beginning of 2015, Macquarie Group and ANZ Banking group had separately compensated their customers for their wealth decisions.

Contact the writer at priya.shayani@gmail.com.