National Australia Bank (NAB) is updating its C-suite, as the major bank prepares for possible redundancies and continues to sharpen its operational focus.
Australia's second largest lender has promoted Shane Conway to group executive, transformation. He begins his new post 1 December, pending regulatory approvals, and reports directly to NAB group chief executive officer Andrew Irvine.
Melbourne-based Conway will continue to oversee the delivery of NAB's technology modernisation and simplification agenda. He will work closely with Patrick Wright, group executive, technology and enterprise operations, "to make things simpler, easier, faster and safer for our customers and colleagues," Irvine said.
“Shane’s promotion further elevates the importance of our ongoing technology modernisation," the CEO added.
Conway has been with NAB for nearly 19 years, and has held numerous senior-leadership roles with the group. Most recently, the seasoned executive was executive general manager, enterprise payments and technology modernisation, chief operating officer for NAB.
Among the other changes, Sydney-based group chief operating officer Les Matheson, who has been with NAB for nearly five years, will take on the added role of overseeing customer and corporate services, starting 1 December, as Sharon Cook, group executive, customer and corporate services, and group general counsel prepares for retirement. Cook will conclude her tenure with the bank on 31 December. Jon Benson, who is also based in Sydney, will move into the newly-created role of executive, group general counsel on 1 December. Benson, who until recently held the title of chief legal officer, corporate and customer divisions legal, will report directly to Matheson in the new role. He has been tasked with overseeing legal and regulatory affairs.
“These changes enable our strategic ambition by bringing together key programs of work that support faster delivery of simpler and better customer experiences," Irvine said. "The changes also reflect the ongoing renewal of our executive team and the depth of talent and experience we have across NAB."
The changes come after the major bank revealed, in September, that it was planning to cut 400 jobs, primarily in its technology and enterprise operations divisions.
At the time, a spokesperson for NAB said, "Like many businesses, we regularly look at the way we work and how we're structured to deliver the best experience we can for our customers. While some roles are no longer required or may move location, we are also creating new roles across all locations as necessary, to ensure we are set up for success and can deliver better outcomes."
Earlier this month, Irvine said NAB was investing in technology teams in Vietnam and India.
But the role of the broker at NAB has been in question for some time. In May, NAB said it hired roughly 150 new proprietary home lenders in 2025's first half. The move was meant to solidify its own direct lending capabilities. But it also reduced reliance, at least in part, on third-party brokers.
The development left some to question whether third-party brokers are losing their relevance at NAB and other lenders, as well as in Australia's larger loan and mortgage markets.
But Adam Brown, NAB executive, broker distribution, said NAB was not phasing out brokers. That the shift isn't about choosing between brokers or the bank's own proprietary channel.
"It's about being great at both," he told Australian Broker.
NAB's updated team is also the latest in a string of changes at the major bank. In August, the bank tapped former QBE Insurance CFO Inder Singh to be NAB's new group chief financial officer and group executive, strategy. Two months prior, former Lloyds Banking Group managing director Pete Steel was hired as group executive, digital, data and artificial intelligence, which included UBank.
