NAB chief calls for more foreign workers as staff shortages are hurting businesses

National Australia Bank chief executive Ross McEwan has called on both major parties to do more to open up Australia to foreign workers, with staff shortages hurting the nation’s businesses as they face rate hikes and inflationary pressures.

He made his comments as NAB on Thursday reported cash earnings of $3.48 billion for the six months to March 31, an increase of 4.1 per cent on the prior period, and said shareholders will receive an interim dividend of 73¢ per share, up from 60¢ the prior period.

NAB is the country’s largest business lender, and McEwan said while small-to-medium sized businesses had proved resilient during the pandemic, many were struggling to find workers.

“The big issue for businesses, small to medium-sized, is they just can’t find enough people to start growing their businesses,” he said. “They’re investing, they’re happy to invest. But it’s finding people to grow.”

“We need short-term and long-term migrants into the economy,” the bank boss declared ahead of this month’s federal election.

The bank reported cash earnings had increased across its business bank by 17.5 per cent to $1.4 billion and institutional bank by 3.1 per cent to $806 million, while earnings decreased by 8.3 per cent to $788 million in personal banking.

NAB increased its provision for bad loans by $2 million as it braces for the potential impact of contractionary economic settings, following moves by the central bank to increase the official cash rate by 25 basis points this week.

McEwan said homeowners were more vulnerable to price increases than businesses. “Pretty much everything they touch has got more expensive,” he said. “That does hurt household income, they’re less flexible about what they can do.”

In a similar move to its rival ANZ, NAB abandoned its cost targets due to rising inflation. NAB has set aside between $80 million and $120 million to cover the enforceable undertaking with the financial crime regulator to fix problems with its anti-money laundering regime.