Our strategic priorities

Our aim is to deliver a sustainable business that outperforms our competitors. Our strategic priorities are:

1. Maintaining balance sheet strength so that we remain a strong, viable business.
2. Accelerating our efficiency, quality and service agenda
3. Investing in our people, culture and reputation
4. Continue to develop our portfolio of businesses

1. Maintaining balance sheet strength so that we remain a strong, viable business
We maintain a sound balance sheet, with conservative capital, funding and liquidity positions. This allows us to support customers and grow market share in key segments, through volatile economic conditions.

In 2009, National Australia Bank was ranked the world's 11th safest bank (and the safest in Australia) in Global Finance Magazine's Safest Bank Rating.

2. Accelerating our efficiency, quality and service agenda
Our Efficiency, Quality and Service agenda is focused on reshaping the business to increase efficiency, reduce duplication, and position the Group to better serve our customers.

NextGen, our multi-year, business-led change program, will help us become an agile, less complex, more efficient and more competitive business, make it easier for our customers to deal with us, and easier for our people to do their jobs.

3. Investing in our people, culture and reputation
We are on a journey to improve engagement with our customers, people, government and community, and build a culture that reflects this. We are committed to initiatives such as improving communication; being more transparent and open about our actions and decisions; offering fairer value banking; reducing our impact on the environment; and improving access to financial services for the disadvantaged.

Recent initiatives have included:

• Leading the industry on the issue of fees, abolishing overdrawn fees on all NAB and BNZ personal transaction and savings accounts,  and being open and communicative about interest rates
• Investing in our diversity and flexible working practices, resulting in NAB again being cited as an employer of choice for women in 2010 by
  the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA)
•  Allocating a further $100 million to expand our microfinance program in Australia
• Committing to reduce our carbon emissions by 20% from 2006 levels, increasing the amount of renewable energy we purchase to 10% and investing in emission reduction projects that ensure we are carbon neutral by September 2010

4. Continue to develop our portfolio of businesses
We will continue to develop our portfolio with a focus on Australia where we are growing the business bank, leveraging recent investments in the retail bank, and pursuing opportunities across the wealth management value chain. At the same time, we will maintain options for longer term growth internationally.

Recent initiatives include:

• Appointing 145 additional frontline bankers to our business bank during 2009, with plans to add a further 200 during 2010.
• Acquiring Challenger's mortgage management business and launching UBank, both important components of our Retail Banking growth strategy.
• Extending our wealth capability and reach with the acquisition of Aviva's wealth management business, and the formation of an alliance with Goldman Sachs JBWere private wealth management business.
• Expanding the branch network of Great Western Bank in the United States.