‘No action’ letter from ASIC for former National Australia Bank chief executive Andrew Thorburn

Former NAB chief Andrew Thorburn has got a ‘no-action letter’ from ASIC after a torrid session in the Hayne inquiry.

Andrew Thorburn left NAB only days after a scathing assessment of the bank in the royal commission final report. Picture: Stuart McEvoy/The Australian.

Former National Australia Bank chief executive Andrew Thorburn has emerged as the latest senior financial services executive known to have received a “no-action letter” from ASIC after a torrid session in the ­financial services royal commission in 2018.

Mr Thorburn, who departed NAB only days after royal commissioner Ken Hayne delivered a scathing assessment of the bank in his February 2019 final report, is now an executive director at For Purpose Investment Partners.

The firm was founded by venture capitalist Mark Carnegie and former Macquarie Group executive Michael Traill, chairman of the federal government’s social impact investing taskforce.

The ex-NAB boss was ­unavailable for comment on Tuesday.

However, it is understood that ASIC cleared him of any wrongdoing in a letter last December.

The Australian has revealed this week that former AMP chair Catherine Brenner and Mr Thorburn’s colleague at NAB, ex-consumer banking and wealth boss Andrew Hagger, have received similar correspondence from the conduct regulator.

All three became embroiled in fees-for-no-service scandals at their respective institutions.

Mr Hagger gave evidence twice at the royal commission after he was recalled by Mr Hayne, with Mr Thorburn appearing once.

Ms Brenner was spared the ­ordeal.

While the AMP chair received her no-action letter on Monday, ASIC told Mr Hagger in December — around the same time as Mr Thorburn — that it would take no action against him.

The watchdog published a regulatory guide in 2009 on the circumstances in which it would inform people that no regulatory action was anticipated.

The purpose, according to the guide, is to provide “comfort and some level of certainty” to an applicant, although the letter does not amount to legal advice and can be withdrawn at any time.

A letter will only be provided if there’s a clear regulatory purpose, such as business facilitation, or the intention of the legislation would not be advanced if enforcement action were taken.

ASIC won’t generally publish no-action letters, or particular details of them.

Sometimes, as with the cases of Ms Brenner, Mr Thorburn and Mr Hagger, the letters are granted after compulsory section 19 ­examinations.

Ms Brenner resigned as AMP chair in 2018 amid sensational allegations that the company had charged fees without providing investment advice, and subsequently misled ASIC about the independence of an expert’s ­report prepared by law firm ­Clayton Utz.

The ASIC letter she received on Monday was signed by senior executive leader, financial ­services enforcement, David ­McGuinness.

The AMP investigation is continuing, with criminal charges possible before the end of the year, according to ASIC deputy chair Daniel Crennan.

NAB, meanwhile, faces three Federal Court cases brought by the watchdog over fees-for-no-service and its introducer program, where the bank pays commissions to third parties in return for introducing customers.

In his final report made public in February 2019, Mr Hayne said that, after hearing the evidence of Mr Thorburn and NAB chairman Ken Henry, he was “not as confident as I would wish to be that the lessons of the past have been learned”.

“I thought it telling that Dr Henry seemed unwilling to accept any criticism of how the board had dealt with some issues,” the royal commissioner said.

“I thought it telling that Mr Thorburn treated all issues of fees-for-no-service as nothing more than carelessness combined with system deficiencies when the total amount to be repaid by NAB and (its trustee company) NULIS on this account is likely to be more than $100m.”