The National Australia Bank (NAB) is set to undertake a wide ranging investigation into the operation of its financial planning and dealer networks as part of a complete review of the bank’s overall business operations.
NAB chief executive Frank Cicutto announced the ‘Positioning for Growth’ review last week, saying the analysis would be crucial to identifying long-term growth opportunities for the bank, which has been hit by the almost $4 billion write down of its US mortgage business Homeside Lending earlier this year.
A spokesperson for the bank has confirmed the group’s wealth management division, including MLC, will be caught up in the review, in an attempt to examine opportunities to maximise revenue by simplifying structures and systems throughout the organisation.
The NAB’s combined National Australia and MLC planning groups make it the third largest owner of planning distribution in the country, with about 1,350 advisers spread across six dealer groups – NAB Financial Planning, MLC Financial Planning, Garvan Financial Planning, Apogee, Godfrey Pembroke and MLC Private Clients.
The NAB spokesperson would not be drawn on whether any consolidation to the bank’s dealer networks will be specifically considered as part of the review, but indicated the entire organisation was up for examination in an attempt to reduce cost structures and use resources more efficiently right across the NAB business.
An initial three-month review of the bank’s operations has already begun to identify early opportunities for growth and performance improvement.
The bank has enlisted the management consulting group, McKinsey and Company, to assist it with the review process.
