Banking Review

Gray restructures NAB personal banking division

National Australia Bank’s experiment with its direct banking businesses UBank, and its broker and adviser support business NAB Partnerships, is under question after the removal of a number of senior executives and a major restructure of its entire personal banking division, led by Lisa Gray.

A spokesperson for NAB confirmed the restructure, which will see the UBank, nabbroker and Advantedge businesses come together to form a “challenger” group which is yet to be named.

The internal announcement comes on the back of the departure of UBank general manager Gerd Schenkel who parted ways with the institution a fortnight ago to pursue other opportunities.

UBank is currently under the leadership of NAB head of direct channels Sam Plowman (former head of online with ANZ), as the bank seeks a replacement for the general manager role.

The latest restructure also sees the exit of NAB Retail head Warren Shaw and NAB Partnerships group executive Matt Lawler.

Both Shaw and Lawler had been tasked with improving the mortgage market share of the bank, which lags behind its competitors Westpac and the Commonwealth Bank.

NAB also plans to develop a dedicated small business division that sits across its personal and business banking divisions as it seeks to reconnect with the small business market it once dominated.

A spokesperson for the bank says its contact centre will now become a formal part of the direct banking business, “bringing together all of the personal banking division’s self and assisted service channels and capabilities to increase efficiencies”.

Warren Shaw is to be replaced by Chris Bayliss who was previously director of retail with NAB’s BNZ business.

The bank is seeking expressions of interest for a person to head up its new “challenger” portfolio of businesses, a role that is likely to report to Lisa Gray.