NAB Chief Financial Officer moves to Westpac

Nathan Goonan, who previously served as the chief financial officer at NAB, has decided to step down from his position and will be assuming the role of CFO at Westpac later this year. This transition comes as the current CFO of Westpac, Michael Rowland, prepares to retire from the bank. Andrew Irvine, NAB’s CEO, recently unveiled several executive changes within the organization.

One of the notable changes includes the appointment of Andrew Auerbach, a former colleague of Irvine from BMO in Canada, who is set to join NAB as the Group Executive of Business & Private Banking on June 16. During his tenure at BMO from 2007 to 2022, Auerbach held similar leadership roles. Irvine himself made the move from BMO to NAB in 2020, having previously served as the head of Canadian Business Banking at BMO.

Rachel Slade, the current Group Executive of Business & Private Banking at NAB, will be departing the organization on July 1. This strategic exit is intended to facilitate a smooth transition and allow Slade to support Irvine in the capacity of a senior adviser. In the interim period until Auerbach assumes his new role at NAB in three months, Michael Saadie, the current Executive of Private Wealth and CEO of JB Were, will serve as the acting Group Executive of Business & Private Banking.

Furthermore, Shaun Dooley, who currently holds the position of Group Chief Risk Officer at NAB, will temporarily fulfill the duties of the group CFO while the organization seeks a permanent replacement for the role. Similarly, Peter Whitelaw, the current Executive Chief Resilience Risk Officer, will take on the responsibilities of the Group CRO during this period of transition.

The decision to bring in a new head of Business & Private Banking and replace Rachel Slade, who was once considered a strong contender for the NAB CEO position, suggests Irvine’s dissatisfaction with the performance of NAB’s business bank. In recent times, NAB has observed a decline in market share, losing ground to competitors such as CBA and Westpac. The restructuring of the executive team hints at Irvine’s intention to address these challenges and drive the organization towards a more competitive position in the market.