Bank’s break for farms
NATIONAL Australia Bank will stop charging farmers extra for defaulting on loans during droughts, after the financial services royal commission heard how the lender had heaped pressure on rural borrowers.
Farm banking in hot, dusty Australia has long been tough and, although it is a small component of overall books, rural loans are some of the riskiest and most politically sensitive.
That has made it a lightning rod for criticism as the worst drought in living memory sweeps over parts of eastern Australia at the same time as the royal commission probes misdeeds in the banking sector.
NAB’s move, which includes offering access to discount loans to farmers, is the latest from banks scrambling to tighten lending and reform their own practices ahead of expected recommendations for stricter regulation.
“The royal commission and other inquiries reveal that in some cases we have lost touch,” NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn said at a speech on Monday evening in Wagga Wagga.
Australia’s biggest rural lender would no longer levy default interest if drought put borrowers behind on repayments, while farmers could access money at discounted rates, Mr Thorburn said.
Production of wheat, Australia’s biggest rural export, is set to fall to an eight-year low this season, owing to near record low rainfall, while graziers are killing cattle and sheep by the thousand lest they starve to death. Fertiliser and pesticide maker Nufarm slashed its earnings guidance as the dry cut demand, while bulk grain handler Graincorp made a profit warning in May.
The royal commission’s revelations of financial industry misconduct, which have shredded trust and the share prices of Australia’s big banks, have also thrown into sharp relief rural concerns that bankers are out of touch.
The commission heard in June how NAB charged a cattle-farming couple in Queensland more than $2.6 million in default interest after flooding rain followed by drought pushed them into arrears on a $3.1 million loan.