President & # 39; Arrogant & # 39; of Australian bank goes to royal commission

NAB President Ken Henry shocked Australians with his "arrogant condescending attitude" to the royal bank investigation commission.

Part of the day was occupied by a series of increasingly tense exchanges between Henry and lead counsel Rowena Orr Commission, Cr.

On several occasions, Orr was clearly frustrated with Henry's answers to his question about bonuses paid to senior executives and the bank's unserviced fees scandal.

But Henry was clearly fed up with questions, openly mocking Orr's statements and sighing before answering most questions.

In a particularly heated exchange, Orr asked Henry if NAB's board of directors should have intervened sooner after customers had charged fees for the lack of service.

"I hope we'll have, let me put it that way. I would have liked – I still do not know," Henry began, before Orr said, "I'd like that you answered my question, Dr. Henry, do you agree that the council should have intervened earlier?

"I answered the question, how can I answer the question," replied Henry, to which Orr replied, "I'm sorry, is there a yes or a d?" a no, Dr. Henry? "

"I answered the question as I had chosen it," Henry said.

"Well, I would like you to answer my question, do you agree that the board of directors should have intervened sooner?" Replied Orr.

"I wish we had," said Henry.

"I'll take that for a yes, Dr. Henry?" Orr concluded.

"Well, you take that for a yes, all right," Henry replied.

Mr. Henry's response broke into the Twittersphere. A social media user described it as a "shocking disrespectful moment".

Commissioner Kenneth Hayne was also seen raising his eyebrows in response to tension in the room.

But in Rowena's typical "shock and Orr" style, she continued without panic.

Earlier in the day, the board heard NAB's board of directors should have told management that "too much is too much" and promptly refund the fees charged to customers for any service.

Instead, NAB spent three years arguing with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) about customer compensation, which, according to Henry, was "absurd".

"There is absolutely no doubt that NAB's reputation has been significantly tarnished by these problems and by the way they have been managed," he said.

"I would have liked us to tell management two years ago, maybe even earlier, that we had said," Enough, that's enough. Forget the negotiation with ASIC. Do it, cure the customers. "

In September of this year, NAB and ASIC finally reached an agreement on this issue.

At the same time, Andrew Thorburn, CEO of NAB, said the bank had "accidentally" kept the customers' money even though they had not received any services in exchange.

He said that even though the practice was wrong, it was not dishonest because it had happened by mistake.

NAB charged AUD $ 3 million ($ 3.2 million) to the estates of more than 4,000 deceased pension clients. thousands of pension clients.

Henry also told the commission that it may take ten years for NAB to incorporate a culture that would correct past mistakes and give priority to customers.

HCA President Mike Wilkins was also interviewed by lead counsel, Michael Hodge, this afternoon, revealing that the company would reimburse 107,735 people for 440.4 million Australian dollars for advice. inappropriate and unserviced fees.

The audience continues.