National Australia Bank has become the first bank in Australia to deploy a conversational analytics tool across its analytics community — allowing staff to query complex datasets in plain English and receive governed, auditable answers within seconds.
Early results show each use case is saving between two and four days of development time, with wider business access now being piloted alongside staff training and governance guardrails.
The move is part of a broader push by NAB to replace static reporting with shared, live datasets that teams across fraud prevention, risk management, and customer service can draw on simultaneously — with faster, more consistent data underpinning decisions across the bank.
For brokers, that kind of internal efficiency at a major lender tends to flow through to the client experience — and turnaround times remain one of the top factors brokers weigh when selecting a lender.
The tool — Databricks' Genie — translates plain-English questions into SQL queries against those shared, access-controlled datasets.
Jessica Cuthbertson (pictured), NAB executive for data and analytics, pointed to transaction dispute handling as a concrete example.
"It means we can keep customers proactively informed at each stage — whether we need more information, the case is under review, or it has been resolved. This reduces uncertainty for customers and that's important," Cuthbertson said in a media release.
The bank says customers who are proactively kept informed during a dispute process are 30% less likely to follow up by phone — a metric that points to fewer friction points in the client experience brokers manage on behalf of their customers.
The Genie capability feeds into NAB's broader Customer Brain platform, which pairs AI with analytics to surface timely, relevant communications at key moments in a customer's banking journey.
The Infosys Bank Tech Index found that 76% of Australian financial firms are actively using AI, placing the country among global leaders, with 70% of Asia-Pacific banks now reporting AI-ready data architecture — ahead of North America and Europe.
NAB's rollout reflects that momentum.
"In banking, we must balance speed with strong governance, and this approach lets us do both," Cuthbertson said.
All access is secured by existing permissions and controls, with privacy obligations upheld throughout — an important consideration as brokers increasingly scrutinise how lenders handle client data.
Get the hottest and freshest property and mortgage news delivered right into your inbox. Subscribe now to our FREE daily newsletter.
