‘Boys club’ culture alleged at NAB in human rights complaint

The head of NAB’s repo trading desk has alleged the bank had a ‘boys club’ culture that saw her underpaid, discriminated against and threatened with a baseball bat.

The complaint alleges NAB’s culture and her immediate superior drove her to depression due to behaviour that would not have happened if she were not female, black or French.

The head of National Australia Bank’s repo trading desk has alleged a “boys’ club culture” at the bank in a human rights complaint, alleging she was ­subjected to years of underpayment, racial and sexual discrimination, threatened with a baseball bat, and repeatedly ignored by management.

Longtime NAB employee Dikele Diawara has taken aim at her employer, alleging she was subjected to years of poor behaviour by her boss, head of trading Tim McCaughey, and ignored by other members of the “overwhelmingly male” trading team in repos, or secured repurchase agreements.

In a Federal Court filing, Ms Diawara – who remains on extended leave from National Australia Bank and is not currently acting in the role – alleges the behaviour saw her suffer a financial hit as well as hurt, humiliation, distress and anxiety.

Ms Diawara, who started working at NAB in 2007 in London, joined the bank’s repo trading desk as director in 2016, moving to Sydney in December.

In her 17-page complaint Ms Diawara alleges NAB had “discriminatory pay practices” that saw her paid less than what the bank was paying men “in the same or similar roles”. Ms Diawara alleges this was because she was a black woman from France.

She alleges her $200,000 remuneration was “the same, or not considerably greater than, what the Respondent was paying persons in roles with less responsibility than the Applicant”.

Ms Diawara alleges she told NAB head of global repo David Bateman about her poor pay in 2017, but nothing was done until 2019 when she was given a $150,000 pay bump despite “no change in Ms Diawara’s responsibilities”.

However, she alleges NAB did nothing to back-pay her or “otherwise compensate the applicant for the period of time she worked” while her pay was “less than her male peers”.

Ms Diawara alleges NAB’s trading desk was “overwhelmingly male” and when she raised the “boys’ club culture” at a 2017 lunch organised to connect women working at the bank she was ostracised.

Following the lunch, Ms Diawara alleges men at NAB “regularly ignored” her and she was “rarely spoken to” as a consequence of speaking out.

“When other men wanted to discuss Repo matters (the Applicant’s area of responsibility) they would not speak to the Applicant but rather would speak to persons such as Mr Papalkar,” Ms Diawara alleges.

Ms Diawara alleges she was assigned to a desk far removed from traders, which “prevented her from conversing” with her team and was not moved despite raising the issue over a 16-month period, putting her at a disadvantage to other heads of trading desks.

She alleges NAB’s culture and Mr McCaughey, her immediate superior, drove her to depression due to behaviour that would not have happened if she were not female, black or French.

Mr McCaughey remains an employee of NAB.

Ms Diawara alleges Mr McCaughey ignored her for two days after starting at NAB, telling her – in front of “numerous staff”, allegedly including Derek Lindsay, Kerin Hurrell, Christian Bowes and Greg McNeil – that he was busy.

Ms Diawara alleges Mr McCaughey regularly engaged in banter with other men on the repo trading desk, but regularly ignored her, rarely speaking with her and providing “no, or limited, ­support”.

In 2017 Mr McCaughey ­allegedly arranged that Ms Diawara be made to report to David Burke, NAB’s head of bonds, as he “did not want to deal with the Applicant on administrative matters like holiday approval”, but did not tell her despite sitting only 2m away.

She only discovered the change had been made after Mr Batemen told her on a phone call.

Ms Diawara alleges “in or about late 2019/early 2020” Mr McCaughey approached her “clubbing” a baseball bat in his hands, telling her he didn’t want to hear about a customer “asking about NAB’s ability to deal repo” in residential mortgage-backed securities.

Mr McCaughey also allegedly humiliated Ms Diawara in January 2020, while she was giving a presentation to senior NAB staff, “by expressing in an aggressive tone, in front of those present, that the presentation was poor”.

Ms Diawara alleges she experienced severe depression as a consequence of Mr McCaughey’s conduct and NAB’s “otherwise discriminatory treatment towards her”.

But she alleges when she told Mr Bateman, her superior at NAB, she was considering making a complaint about Mr McCaughey she was cautioned not to. “Mr Bateman told the Applicant that making such a complaint could have big consequences for her future given she was a woman with a leadership position in financial services. It would be a ‘pointless exercise to go after Tim McCaughey’ and would not look good,” Ms Diawara alleges.

NAB told The Australian it was taking “these matters extremely seriously” and would participate in the court process.

“NAB is committed to supporting equality and diversity in the workplace,” a spokeswoman for the bank said.

ANZ was hit with claims of wrongful dismissal in 2020 by a former trader who alleged a male-dominated, toxic culture within the bank’s global markets division.

This saw allegations of trips of strip clubs, lewd language, and references to sex, drugs and alcohol use.