In a letter to UK House of Commons Treasury Select Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie MP – seen by InvestorDaily – Senator Sam Dastyari asked for information regarding NAB’s UK operations.
The letter formally requests the committee’s co-operation or “shared information”, while explaining to his British counterpart the context of the appeal.
“The committee I chair is investigating several allegations that NAB employees engaged in systemic misconduct in Australia; and further, that NAB executives attempted to conceal their internal investigation and disciplinary actions from our government regulator, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC),” the letter states.
“Our investigation into NAB is part of an ongoing inquiry into misconduct in the Australian financial advice industry.”
The letter follows a scathing report issued by the British parliament’s Treasury Select Committee in early March, which called for an overhaul of the client compensation mechanisms implemented within the NAB-owned Clydesdale Bank – which are due to be sold or floated later this year.
“Clydesdale’s own internal review of potential mis-selling [of interest rate hedging products to small business] appears to have serious shortcomings,” the committee report said.
“It lacks public oversight, transparency and is limited in scope. All three of these problems need to be addressed by Clydesdale.”
Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg recently told InvestorDaily that ASIC has indicated investigating NAB’s financial planning arm is a top regulatory priority.
