NAB is accelerating its expansion in business banking, sharpening its focus on medium and large enterprises through the creation of a specialist customer acquisition unit.
The bank is building out a national team dedicated to sourcing new business, drawing on expertise from across its Business & Private Banking (B&PB) and Corporate & Institutional Banking (C&IB) divisions. By consolidating these bankers into a single, coordinated group, NAB aims to streamline how larger clients engage with the institution and ensure stronger alignment in how opportunities are identified and executed.
Under the new structure, the team will pursue growth in the medium and large business segments while simplifying the customer journey. A tailored support function will sit alongside it, providing specialist services such as accelerated approval processes, smoother onboarding, and whole-of-bank solutions designed to meet the needs of more sophisticated businesses.
The initiative builds on long-running efforts within NAB’s business and corporate units that already serve larger clients, and it forms part of the bank’s broader shift towards a more customer-centred model while continuing to expand business banking, deposits, and its proprietary home-lending portfolio.
Cathryn Carver, NAB group executive corporate & institutional banking, said the upgraded model is intended to strip out unnecessary complexity for both customers and bankers, particularly when transactions become more intricate.
“There is no area more important to us and our customers than business banking – our heartland,” Carver said in a media release.
“While competition has intensified in recent years, we’ve made it very clear that we’re focussed on extending our market leadership.
“We’re taking the best business banking capability from across NAB and creating a team that will be the cornerstone of what being the most customer-centric company in Australia and New Zealand looks like.”
Andrew Auerbach, NAB group executive business & private banking, said the expansion strengthens the bank’s existing leadership across core business segments.
“One in three agribusinesses and one in four SME businesses bank with NAB,” Auerbach said. “With this expansion, we believe we can help meet the ambitions of even more medium and large businesses in Australia.
“By combining specialist sector expertise, deep local relationships, and the full breadth of NAB’s balance sheet, we’re delivering faster, more coordinated support to our customers.
“This is a unique model that gives business customers the products, insights, and banking expertise they need to grow from day one.”
The timing coincides with signs of renewed commercial lending appetite. Equifax recently reported a 3% annual increase in overall commercial credit demand, while NAB’s latest business survey recorded firmer trading conditions, stronger profitability, and confidence levels sitting above long-run averages.
For mortgage and commercial brokers supporting trading businesses, NAB’s intensified focus on acquisition and coordinated support could open additional opportunities—particularly for clients seeking complex funding solutions, industry-specific expertise, or a multi-product banking relationship under a single, integrated framework.
