Code of Conduct for National Australia Bank

This document discusses the Code of Conduct for National Australia Bank, outlining the standards of responsibility and ethical conduct expected from employees. It covers principles and values, community involvement, group commitments, prevention of discrimination, prevention of exploitation, prevention of corruption, dishonest and fraudulent behavior, whistle-blower protections, and enforcement procedures.

Running head: GOVERNANCE, ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
Governance, Ethics and Sustainability
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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Code of Conduct for National Australia Bank
Introduction
At National Australia Bank (NAB), we all are committed towards achieving sustainable
performance throughout the business and delivering value to all our stakeholders and customers by
not compromising our trusted reputation and values (Foo 2017). We are long standing and trusted
banking organisation that is firmly affected by the needs of our clients and customers, our
communities as well as our nation. We are one of the well-known financial services companies that
provide advice, services and products by means of our major Australian franchise and businesses in
Asia, United Stated, United Kingdom and New Zealand.
We maintain Code of Conduct for all the regions we are serving or in which we operate.
These Codes of Conduct outlines the entire standards of responsibility and the ethical conducts that
are required for each and every employee who are working on the behalf of the company. They
include0 the directors, contractors and consultants.
Our Principles and Values
NAB is proud to say that it work with a large number of local communities and offer them
volunteer leave along with hopes for improving the economic and social wellbeing of the ones around
it (Worthington 2016). We at NAB also help you to become your best by means of providing learning
and development opportunities, diversity, inclusion and flexibility. Our culture is underpinned by a
total of five core values and they are mentioned below:
1. Passion for customers
2. Doing the right things
3. Being Bold
4. Winning together
5. Respect for people

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Our Community involvement
Our approach to corporate responsibility extends beyond our business and leads us to take a
very active role within the communities in which our people work and live.
We focus on the activities that develop both the economic and social well-being for both now
and in the future (Adams et al. 2016). The ones who join us get enormous opportunities for giving
back and developing themselves, by means of volunteering, playing and donating a part in securing
sustainable future.
Being a part of the company with a community involvement focus is very vital to our people
and there are several different ways one could benefit from playing an active role in our local
community (Sain, Rahman and Khanam 2016). This is simply focused on the community activities, in
our role, providing processes and support for making this happen and taking time for giving back.
Our Group Commitments
1. We conduct ourselves professionally
2. We act with integrity, honesty and fairness
3. We adhere to privacy and confidentiality requirements
4. We meet our regulatory and legal obligations, internal standards and voluntary commitments
5. We deal with, and report the suspected breaches
6. We manage conflicts of interest
Working in Our Team
We expect our people to behave in professional way that would foster trust, goodwill and
confidence among the customers, suppliers, colleagues and the community (Jain, Keneley and
Thomson 2015). One must respect human rights in keeping with our Group Human Rights Policy.
A. Prevention of Discrimination

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Discrimination could be direct and it can take place by a particular exclusion or adverse treatment
on the basis of the personal characteristics of a person like age, race, ethnicity, colour, gender,
background, sex or national identity (Wintemute 2017). It can also be indirect and can take place
when a condition is imposed or implemented on everyone in equal manner but the persons of a
specific group would find it difficult to comply with the requirements as of the personal
characteristics. Some of the other forms of harassment, discrimination and bullying can also constitute
the criminal offences like-
 Stalking
 Physically assaulting the colleagues, peers, customers or any person
 Obscene communications
NAB has a policy that established proper workplace behaviours related to the discrimination and
harassment and sets out the different processes for making a complaint for bullying. We will act
immediately on such reports and complaints (De Jonge 2018). If the issue is not resolved internally,
NAB will make use of different ways for addressing the problem and this may include Work Health
and Safety laws, the Fair Work commission and Anti-discrimination laws.
At all the times, both in and out of the work, you must:
 Treat the customers, colleagues and the members of the community with fairness, respect and
dignity.
 Adhere to the Discrimination and Harassment Policy
 Offer support to anyone who feels or claims to be experiencing discrimination, bullying and
harassment
 Not spread profane, discriminatory, harassing and derogatory comments or abusive language.
 Any staff members who feels aggrieved by an action which might comprise of workplace
harassment, discrimination and bullying is expected to raise the issue with their respective
supervisors as soon as it is practicable.
B. Prevention of Exploitation

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The NAB Workplace code of conduct defined the labour standards that aim towards achieving a
humane and decent working conditions (Nankervis et al. 2016). The standards of these code are based
on the International Labour organisation standards as well as the internationally accepted good labour
practices.
NAB expects its employees to:
 Not abuse their employment benefits provided by the organisation in any way
 Not exploiting the relationships for their personal advantage and benefit.
 Not taking credit for the ideas and works of others, even in the cases where the work has not
been explicitly protected by the patent or copyright
C. Prevention of Corruption
Corruption is illegal and it should be avoided by all means (Rigi 2017). We all are responsible for
the prevention of corruption in the workplace. The corrupt activities include the dishonest actions and
the dishonestly failing to act which results in actual or potential financial losses or unjust advantage. It
includes:
 The theft of data, money and property
 Acts of bribery
 Deliberately destroying, concealing or falsifying the documents.
At NAB, the services and products must not be made available if one become aware of or have
ample of reason for suspecting, they will be used for illegal and criminal activity. If our people feel or
suspect corruption activities to be taking place, or if he or she is pressured by any colleagues and
customers for departing from the procedures and policies set by the organisation, they are expected to
tell their team leader about the same or report about it through the Fair Call Service or Group
Whistle-blower Program.
All the employees are expected to stay alert for unusual customer activity and they must follows
the correct processes for ensuring the instances of corruption and the other subsequent risks for the
customers and the NAB are low. It is to mention that failure of reporting the corruption might be

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considered as seriously as the corruption itself. Our financial crimes requirements gives set of
guidance on our processes and responsibilities.
 Our Economic and Trade Sanctions Policy and Anti Money Laundering and Counter
Terrorist Financing Policy set out the ways by means of which the Group meets all its legal
and the regulatory obligations in these areas.
 Our Anti-Bribery and Corruption Policy sets out the approach of the Group and the
employee responsibilities for complying with the regulatory and the legal requirements in
relation to Corruption and Bribery.
 Our Anti-Fraud Policy outlines the responsibility for acting honestly and adhering to the
internal controls and the processes that are designed for preventing the fraud activities.
D. Dishonest and Fraudulent Behaviour
The Fraudulent activities include the dishonest actions and the dishonestly failing to act which
results in actual or potential financial losses or unjust advantage (Abdullahi and Mansor 2018). It
cause some potential financial losses to both the person and the organisation. It includes:
 The theft of data, money and property
 Acts of bribery
 Unethical and improper business behaviour
 Deliberately destroying, concealing or falsifying the documents.
If our people feel or suspect of fraud activities to be taking place, or if he or she is pressured by
any colleagues and customers for departing from the procedures and policies set by the organisation,
they are expected to tell their team leader about the same or report about it through the Fair Call
Service or Group Whistle-blower Program (Harrison, Summers and Mennecke 2016).
NAB expects its employees to:
 Not getting engaged in fraud and dishonest activities
 Reporting such behaviours when and if they are felt and observed
 Reporting breaches of the organisation’s code of conduct.

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 To raise the issue with their respective supervisors as soon as it is practicable.
E. Whistle-blower Protections
NAB has formulated Whistle Blower policy that outlines the guidance to enable all its employees
for raising the concerns against any malpractices like unethical conduct, corruption, fraud, dishonesty,
potential infractions of the Code of Conduct of the organisation, breached of the patent and copyright,
engaging in immoral activities and alike (Andon et al. 2018). It is to note that a Whistle blower is a
person who exposes the kind of activity or information that is deemed unethical, incorrect and illegal
within the organisation. Some of the other forms of unethical or immoral activities are like-
 Abuse of authority
 Breach of contract
 Deliberate violation of the regulation and law
 Violation of company’s code of conduct
 Wastage of company assets and funds
 Unlawful act
 Breach of Company Policy and failure in implementing or complying with any of the
approved Company Policy
The Whistle Officer is the Audit in charge or the Audit head (Esen 2018). He shall acts as the
secretary of the NAB. He or she is given the responsibility of maintaining Register of issues,
maintaining of documents that are pertaining to complaints and investigation etc., and acting as a
secretary of NAB.
NAB expects its employees to:
 Avoid the anonymity while raising any concern
 Following the processes and procedures that are prescribed in the policy of Group Whistle-
blower Program in order make a Disclosure
 Cooperating with the investigation authorities and maintaining a complete confidentiality

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 Maintaining confidentiality about the subject matter of the disclosure and identifying the
persons who are involved in the alleged Malpractice.
The Investigation team is expected to:
 Ensure complete fact finding
 Maintaining strict confidentiality
 Conducting the enquiry in unbiased and fair way
 Deciding the outcomes of investigation
 Recommending proper course of action
 Recording the investigation team deliberations and documenting the final reports
 Providing information and documenting the whistle officer about the complaints.
F. Enforcement
Enforcement procedures are used for helping in ensuring compliance with the Standards of Code
of Ethics that represent the principles and the values that the members of the Banking industry
profession have identified as being vital (Katsoulacos and Ulph 2016).
It is to note that the enforcement processes are maintained and established by the Board and the
Governance committee of NAB is tasked with keeping the Enforcement procedures updated (Dato,
Mersland and Mori 2018).
Under the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics by NAB, the employees are expected to be:
 Respecting the civil rights and constitutional rights of all the persons
 Obeying the country laws and regulations of the police departments
 Professional and impartial actions and behaviours
 Not permitting prejudices, personal feeling and emotions to influence his or her decision
 Being honest
 Not using the office or organisation for partisan and personal benefits
 Refusing the personal rewards or gratitude for the official conduct
 Fairness and compassion

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 Cooperating with all the legal agencies for justice
 Not using violence or excessive force to treat anything and any one in the office premise
 Respecting the confidentiality of the office and the data and information that are gathered on
the customers
 Never intimidating the customers or suspects
It is to note that all our codes of Conduct are underpinned by the belief and trust that the
employees and the customers would be treated with both dignity and respect. Any suspected breaches
of our Code of Conduct will be investigated. Breach may impact your Conduct Gateway results and
ratings in the disciplinary outcomes, which may include the termination of your employment with the
National Australian Bank (NAB) (Hargovan 2018). You must become well aware and familiar with
NAB’s Codes of Conduct and refer any questions that you may have with your respective team leader.

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