Do we like NAB (National Australia Bank)?
One of Australia's big four banks, offering business, home loan and everyday banking. Based in Melbourne.
Our score: 5 out of 10. A mixed bag. It has clear scam-fighting wins and has cut back fossil-fuel lending, but it keeps collecting regulator penalties. We'd back it cautiously, not happily.
NAB is one of Australia's big four banks, listed on the ASX and based in Melbourne. Andrew Irvine took over as CEO in April 2024 from Ross McEwan, who had arrived in 2019 with a brief to fix things after the Royal Commission. Philip Chronican is chair.
The big blot lately is hardship. In August 2025 the Federal Court ordered NAB and a subsidiary to pay $15.5m. ASIC said they missed the 21-day deadline to respond to 345 hardship requests between 2018 and 2023. They only acted after ASIC took them to court.
There's more. ASIC said NAB wrongly charged customers periodic payment fees for over a year, and the court fined it A$2.1m. In July 2026 ASIC's markets panel fined NAB's broker WealthHub $1.055m for misreporting regulatory data more than 9.5 million times.
On the plus side, the National Anti-Scam Centre's report noted NAB's selfie-based ID checks for opening accounts online. NAB also says customers have abandoned large sums of payments after its scam alerts. On climate, NAB promised to require transition plans from major fossil fuel clients, but activists say details are thin.
So it's a middle-of-the-road 5. Real consumer-protection failures and a run of fines sit against decent scam defences and some climate movement. We'd want to see fewer penalties before calling it a bank we love.