Suspects are always told to put on a smart suit and a humble manner for a court appearance. It’s not so different for bankers facing public inquiries.That’s certainly the conclusion you’d draw from the bloodbath at the top of National Australia Bank.
In the Royal Commission inquiry into Australia’s financial sector that concluded Monday, Commissioner Kenneth Hayne singled out the pair for unusually stinging criticism. After hearing their testimony in November hearings, “I am not as confident as I would wish to be that the lessons of the past have been learned,” he wrote. “My fear – that there may be a wide gap between the public face NAB seeks to show and what it does in practice – remains.”