NAB chief Andrew Thorburn’s extended summer leave fuels speculation he might not return

Given the year NAB has had, no one would be surprised if CEO Andrew Thorburn’s holiday took a permanent turn.

NAB CEO Andrew Thorburn leaves the banking royal commission hearings in Melbourne last month. David Geraghty/The Australian

Last Friday, National Australia Bank chief executive Andrew Thorburn told his top-70 leaders that he planned to take extended leave from the end of this week until early March.

As my colleague Joyce Moullakis reported, Thorburn will return to work for a few days to finalise NAB’s response to royal commissioner Ken Hayne’s final report, which is due by February 1.

Chief financial officer Gary Lennon will act as CEO in Thorburn’s absence.

The NAB boss told chairman Ken Henry earlier this year of his plan to take a month of long service leave to “recharge” in preparation for another challenging year.

Addressing his top leaders, he said that men rarely took up their long service leave entitlements while they were still at work.

All of that is true, but the industry is awash with speculation that Thorburn might not return.

On Wednesday, NAB is likely to attract a record “no” vote for its remuneration report, with shareholders venting their rage over a lack of executive accountability for misconduct highlighted in the royal commission.

During the year, NAB set aside $360 million for wealth customers who were charged fees but failed to receive the associated service.

The bank rattled ASIC’s cage by delaying remediation.

In addition, an investigation into an alleged fraud in Thorburn’s office revealed control failures and unintended breaches of internal policy by the CEO himself.

NAB has had a bad royal commission — worse than anyone expected.

But if Thorburn is true to his word, he’ll be back by early March, refreshed and reinvigorated, and determined to see through NAB’s aggressive transformation.

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