ASX Announcement - Building a platform for sustainable out-performance

Wednesday 6 August 2008

National Australia Bank (NAB) today announced the first phase of its Next Generation Platform initiative that will involve the replacement of its core banking systems over the next five years to underpin its strategy for sustainable out-performance.

“Over the past three years a significant program of work has been underway to successfully turnaround the Australian business. This work was completed in 2007,” said Mr Ahmed Fahour, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer Australia.

“Through our focus on the customer, with an investment in our people, products, quality and efficiency, we have been able to sustainably improve our performance. We are now well positioned to embark on the next wave of our strategy,” said Mr Fahour.

The Next Generation platform strategy has been developed over 18 months following a robust process leveraging industry and internal experts and an extensive evaluation of potential vendor partners.

“It has been a highly collaborative process, involving leaders from right across our Australian business, including the Board,” said Mr Fahour.

NAB has selected Oracle to partner with for the first phase of its Next Generation Platform strategy. Phase one will involve the delivery of a platform for the Star Direct business, a new business that NAB has previously flagged to the market. The Star Direct business will include a specialised, low cost, high service direct bank that will be launched later this year.

"This is a significant investment for NAB and we plan to take a very phased and measured approach over the next five years,” said Ms Michelle Tredenick, Chief Information Officer Australia.

“Our existing IT systems have served the business well to date, however they are not sufficient to support our future strategic direction.

“We have strong support throughout the organisation, with the program to be managed and governed by the Australian Executive team. We are confident that the time for change is now,” said Ms Tredenick.

While Oracle is delivering the platform for the Star Direct business, NAB will plan the second and subsequent phases of the strategy in parallel. This planning is expected to takeapproximately six months to complete. It is at this time that NAB will be in a position to share further detail on how it plans to sequence this program and confirm who it will partner with going forward.

"It is expected that the Australian investment, which is a multi-year program, can be accommodated within our existing investment spend across the Group," Mr Fahour concluded.

For further information:

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Kerrina Lawrence
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Lyndal Kennedy
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