NAB to evaluate impact of branches

During an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce event in Sydney last week, Mr Thorburn spoke about innovation and outlined several moves by NAB that are in an effort to meet customers’ changing needs.

While physical branches are still an important part of those needs, Mr Thorburn said NAB needs to re-evaluate the reasons why.

“We have 800 branches through the country and people are using them in different ways for different things. That needs to be something we review on an ongoing basis,” he said.

“We believe the physical outlets are important for advice, for larger ticket items, home loans and our business-making centres are also an important part of that.

“Over time, we have to think about the location of those branches, the size of those branches and, increasingly, the technology that’s offered in those branches to be able to ensure that our cost base is competitive and so we can continue to invest in digital channels.”

Mr Thorburn said the bank’s busiest branch is the mobile one, with more than 60 per cent of NAB customers using mobile devices to access their bank accounts.

In addition, about 45 million digital transactions are taking place every month at the bank alone. Mr Thorburn added that on any given day at 3am, more than 1,000 people can be found using NAB’s website.

These figures demonstrate how more customers are changing the way they handle their finances, and are what drives NAB to invest in and produce more digital products, according to Mr Thorburn.

“We at NAB are putting our clients more and more at the centre of what we do,” he said.

“We are going to be focused and relentless about our drive to create a stronger, better bank in Australia and New Zealand, and be a better competitor than ever before.”