Doubts about National Australia Bank’s growth outlook and recent management changes have been stoked further by scuttlebutt around chief executive Andrew Irvine that emerged from an investor meeting with the bank’s chairman.
Outside the seemingly impervious Commonwealth Bank, NAB has been the second-choice investment among the big four for several years, but that position has been tested over the past 12 months.
Investors have qualms with NAB’s technology investment and retail banking strategy, while CBA has been challenging its dominance in the flagship business banking division. But the more immediate concern has been management disruption following former CEO Ross McEwan’s departure last year.
Those misgivings were amplified by a front-page story from the Financial Review this week which said investors had recently raised “serious concerns” with NAB chairman Phil Chronican about Irvine’s drinking at company events.
