National Australia Bank (NAB)’s $1 billion pledge to Australian business is getting the media talking with David Bannatyne, GM Small Business invited onto the Switzer program on Sky Business News this week, to talk about what the commitment means for customers.
Mr Bannatyne encouraged customers to take advantage of opportunities and look for ways to grow their business.
“NAB is here for Australian businesses, and we want to back them, which is why we have made this pledge,” Mr Bannatyne said.
“With our commitment of $1 billion a month, we are here to help Australian companies grow.
“During the GFC NAB lent over $29 billion , there is no doubt that some of our competitors withdrew from the market (at this time), but I am really pleased we did continue to lend, which goes to show we understand our customer’s businesses.
“We will always continue to do good quality work around understanding our customers’ business, we are the country’s biggest business bank so we want to make sure we continue lending to those businesses and make sure we do it responsibly.
“Our CEO came out a couple of weeks ago and said he wants to see more entrepreneurialship in the market, and so we want to get behind businesses and make things a little easier for them.
“We do believe there is a good year ahead of us, and we want to be there (for business) for every step along the way,” David said.
Mr Bannatyne’s interview came on the same day as NAB released findings of the monthly Business Survey, which saw business conditions rise by 12 points – the largest monthly increase in the history of the survey.
While a fall in confidence was surprising this month, this is the first time since 2012 confidence has dropped below conditions, indicating firms remain uncertain about near-term demand. NAB Economists believe a depreciation in the $AUD may help turn this around in coming months.
