“Specially trained” home lending specialists are being brought in to NAB’s banks to “offer customers expert advice in home lending”.
NAB has said that the new role will require bankers to complete a Certificate IV in Financial Services and undertake a “tailored training program”.
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Speaking of the decision, NAB executive general manager of performance and reward Lynda Dean commented: “We are investing in our people so that they have the capabilities, skills and training to provide a simpler, faster and better customer experience.”
The move comes less than a year since the bank fired 20 bankers in NSW and VIC, disciplined 32 people and began remediation for customers following the discovery that more than 2,000 home loans were submitted with inaccurate information.
The major bank released a statement on 16 November highlighting that, since 2013, around 2,300 home loans submitted through NAB’s Introducer Program by bank staff “may have been submitted without accurate customer information and/or documentation, or correct information”.
The discovery followed an “extensive review” by NAB after a staff member highlighted issues internally, and after ASIC advised the bank of issues during a review of their processes in October 2015.
Changes to banker remuneration
As well as bringing in new home lending specialists, the major bank has announced that the bankers’ remuneration structure will fall under NAB’s Group Short Term Incentive (STI) Plan from 1 October 2018.
The STIs, which have been disseminated to NAB bankers to fulfil the recommended reforms of the Retail Banking Remuneration Review (Sedgwick report), will reward NAB employees, who will be rewarded based on a balanced scorecard of customer advocacy, compliance with risk, process/quality improvements and financial performance.
It follows a number of changes NAB has already made to its employee remuneration structure over the last 18 months, such as moving away from performance-based, fixed pay increases for customer service and support staff; removing product sales targets when considering pay increases for some employees; and switching branch managers, assistant branch managers and sales team leaders in call centres from product-based incentives to the Group STI Plan.
[Related: Major bank fires staff over ‘incorrect’ home loan applications]