NAB CEO reflects on the year ahead

“It’s called the lucky country for a reason,” NAB CEO Andrew Irvine said in reflection of the array of opportunities that await Australia over the course of 2025.

Irvine said that despite economic challenges, it is still in “reasonable shape” due to labour market resilience, moderating inflation, and an expected acceleration in growth.

“There is much needed light at the end of the tunnel, and beyond that I remain optimistic for the long-term,” he said.

“As a nation we’re not thinking enough about how we increase productivity. Getting this right is our greatest opportunity.

“Australia is indeed the lucky country. We have had unique and extraordinary access to natural resources, but these are not infinite. What replaces Australia’s growth in these areas needs to be carefully considered.”

According to Irvine, weak productivity is being felt particularly in the housing sector as a result of low numbers of new housing builds and developers struggling with projects being financially viable.

“There’s no easy fix to this national crisis,” he said.

“We need more skilled migrants and to be more innovative in the types of housing and methods of construction. An enhanced focus on skills and training is vital to lifting productivity by ensuring Australia has the skilled workforce needed for the future.”

Irvine said that countries such as Canada have adopted more modern methods of construction, and that same adoption could be a boon for Australia.

“We also need to look at the types of homes we’re building. We don’t have enough of what I would call medium density housing stock – low rise apartment buildings, townhouses, there’s still too much building of traditional single-family dwellings, which of course people do aspire to,” Irvine said.

“But we need housing stock that allows younger Australians to get on the housing ladder as a way to their end home.

“Lastly, we need all levels of government, including local councils, to take urgent action, and in some jurisdictions, taxation also needs to be looked at. If we don’t get the settings right now, this issue will continue to have a disproportionate impact on young and vulnerable Australians.”

NAB’s boss went on to praise recent technological developments, such as the surge in AI use.

“Every big innovation or technological leap has created more jobs than it has taken away,” Irvine said.

“The nature of work will change and what’s important is we help the workforce to rescale and move to where the economy is going, versus where it’s been.

“At NAB, it’s about freeing up our bankers’ time so that they can spend it with customers. We’re already using generative AI for knowledge management for bankers, marketing content creation, co-pilots for summarising reports and drafting notes and accelerating the review of trust deeds. 

“We have more than 1,000 engineers working with Amazon Q technology to help with coding. It’s about making things easier for our customers and easing the administrative burden.”

[RELATED: NAB predicts 3 interest rate cuts for 2025]

Adrian Suljanovic is a journalist at Broker Daily with more than two years experience reporting on all facets of the third party distribution channel.

Adrian has written for a range of business and finance titles including IFA, Investor Daily and Lawyer’s Weekly before joining the mortgages team in 2022.

He graduated from the University of Wollongong in 2021 gaining a Bachelor of Communication & Media with a major in Digital & Social Media.

E-mail Adrian at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.