NAB shareholder takes bank to court in a bid to secure confidential papers
By Millie Muroi
When long-term NAB shareholder Diana Beere inherited the shares from her mother 10 years ago, she didn’t think much of it. Now, she is taking the country’s third-largest bank to court.
With a daughter – and recently, a granddaughter – Beere wants to make sure the shares, which she hopes to hand down, are in a company that is being ethical and true to its word.
Diana Beere: “If you have a policy, it’s not just a piece of paper that’s there to make you look good.”Credit: Paul Harris
“I can’t [yet] put my hand on my heart and say this company is sticking to its own policies and not trying to mislead shareholders, customers or the public in general into thinking that it’s something that it’s not,” she said.
“That would not only be unethical, but also a financial risk, and therefore a risk to me as a shareholder and a risk to my daughter and granddaughter as future shareholders.”
Beere, who has worked in various government policy roles, said she was concerned about the bank’s reputation and financial risk to shareholders if NAB wasn’t adhering to its own policies.
“The work I’ve done in the past has been related to aligning what you do with what you say you’re going to do,” she said.
“So I do see it as being important that if you have a policy, it’s not just a piece of paper that’s there to make you look good. I don’t think it makes good economic sense to be investing in fossil fuels if most of the world believes that we’re heading for a climate disaster, and it wouldn’t be consistent with their policies [if they are].”
Equity Generation Lawyers senior associate Sophia Ferguson, who is representing Beere, said section 247A of the Corporations Act allowed shareholders to ask the court to make orders to access internal documents that go to concerns about a company’s management, as long the shareholder is acting in good faith and for a proper purpose.
“Beere is seeking access to NAB’s internal documents because she is concerned about whether NAB’s systems adequately reflect the bank’s public commitments to not finance new thermal coal projects, and to undertake human rights due diligence before lending money to companies for sensitive projects,” she said.
‘I can’t [yet] put my hand on my heart and say this company is sticking to its own policies and not trying to mislead shareholders, customers or the public in general into thinking that it’s something that it’s not.’
Diana Beere, NAB shareholder
Beere hopes to see relevant board papers and project and credit assessment documents for loans to coal miners Whitehaven and New Hope, as well as new thermal coal projects.
“I’m also asking for documents relating to NAB’s human rights due diligence for Santos’ Barossa gas project near the Tiwi Islands, and the Coastal GasLink project in Canada.”
Beere is not the only person concerned about the bank’s decision to finance Santos. At its annual meeting in December, NAB received questions about its decision to finance Santos and whether it would make a commitment to meet with the Tiwi people.
Chief executive at the time, Ross McEwan, said it was “absolutely appropriate” to engage in conversation with Indigenous people and islanders when banks were involved in major developments such as those proposed by Santos. “We’re very happy to have those conversations,” he said.
Long-term NAB shareholder Diana Beere is seeking access to some of the bank’s internal documents.Credit: Paul Harris
Investors are increasingly focused on companies’ environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, and especially the issue of “greenwashing”, where companies make their products or services seem more environmentally friendly, sustainable or ethical than they actually are.
In 2021, a group of long-term Commonwealth Bank shareholders took the bank to court when they discovered CBA appeared to be involved in the financing of seven new oil and gas projects, contrary to its business lending policies at the time. In November that year, the court made orders for CBA to produce documents to the shareholders for inspection by February 2022.
While NAB has handed over some documents since Beere first wrote to it expressing her concerns in early 2022, she said there were certain documents the bank said it couldn’t hand over without its clients’ permission.
Beere hopes that by having access to these documents, she will have peace of mind when she hands her NAB shares down to her daughter and granddaughter.
NAB declined to comment.
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