National Australia Bank Limited (NAB) Share Price

NAB Company Profile

National Australia Group is an international financial services organization that provides a comprehensive and integrated range of financial products and services. The Group is structured around regional banking and wealth management operations and an international capital markets and institutional banking business.

Australia - connects with millions of customers every day across retail, business and private banking, and wealth management. Brands include NAB and MLC.

United Kingdom - Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank offer a broad range of services including retail, business and corporate banking.

New Zealand - Bank of New Zealand provides a range of innovative wealth management, retail, business and agribusiness products and services.

Americas - Great Western Bank provides banking, wealth management and insurance services to its personal and business customer base.

nabCapital - provides institutional banking and capital markets services, including debt, risk  management and investment products for corporate and institutional customers in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, the UK and the US.

The Group is governed by a Board of Directors and led by a Group Executive Committee.

The Group's businesses are supported by a streamlined Corporate Centre which comprises service teams, including group finance, legal, treasury, group risk management, group strategic investments, people and culture, investor relations, corporate affairs, corporate secretariat and the office of the CEO.

Strength through challenging times

On a pre-provisioning basis, National Australia Bank Limited’s underlying profi t for 2008 was $8.1 billion, up 13.9% on the prior year. Cash earnings generated across the Group were $3.9 billion, a decrease of 10.7%. The 2008 full year dividend was up 12 cents per share to 194 cents per share, fully franked.

This strong result was marred by the provisions required against conduit assets in the nabCapital securitisation business, refl ecting unprecedented conditions in global markets.

Our core banking franchises have performed well despite the volatility in fi nancial markets and all businesses have again demonstrated tight cost control. Expenses were down 2.0% overall for the year.

While lending growth slowed in all markets, we achieved satisfactory growth in lending volumes up 12.5% from 2007 to $361 billion. Retail deposits growth was solid in a competitive market, up 10.8%.

We have maintained conservative capital and liquidity settings during the year to provide strength in an uncertain environment. As at 30 September 2008, our Tier 1 capital ratio was strong at 7.35% and $28 billion of term funding was raised during the year, with a four year average maturity. Our liquidity position is sound, with liquid assets of $66 billion.

Our principals, policies and management systems

Our Principles and behaviours

Our Corporate Principles are the basis for the Group's core beliefs, values and behaviours.

The Corporate Principles are reinforced by our Code Of Conduct and Compliance Standards.

Our Corporate Principles require directors, employees and temporary workers, among other things, to behave ethically.

Our governance and management systems

The Group has a range of governance structures, management systems and processes to help us manage our day-to-day business.

Corporate governance - Corporate governance is a matter of high importance in the Company.

CR governance -  We have a CR Policy and Framework.

Risk management - Effective management of risk is fundamental to the Group's strategy.

Stakeholder engagement - Stakeholder engagement helps us understand what our stakeholders expect of us. As a large global business we interact with a diverse range of stakeholders.

Community investment - Our community investment is driven by the belief that we have both a responsibility and the opportunity to assist in the growth and development of the local communities where our people and customers live and work.

People management - We're focused on creating a place where our people want to work.

Supply chain management - Our supply chain contributes to our social and environmental performance.

Environmental management - We are committed to making a contribution to the sustainability of our planet by managing both our direct and indirect environmental impacts.

Our policies

Our Board and executive committees have approved a wide range of policies that guide our day-to-day business activities. Many of these policies have social and environmental dimensions, as well as economic. They are instrumental in enabling our business to operate in a socially responsible manner.For more information www.nab.com.au