Business as usual in banking

The NAB payments failure is drifting into its fifth week with a static advisory lingering on its website.

"We know that some customers are still experiencing inconsistencies and we're actively working to address these as soon as possible," says NAB.

The inconsistencies relate to November 26 and 27 payments.

ASAP, in the NAB version of bank-speak, evidently means a long time. Corrupted payments files from late November remain unresolved, in full, on the eve of Christmas Eve.

NAB's CEO Cameron Clyne had a go at explaining this failure at the bank's AGM last week.

One amusing point was an echo of past FID tax compliance weaknesses at NAB - one of a series of value-destroying episodes that afflicted the bank in the early 2000s and which in this case were based on routines devised in the 1980s.

NAB is at least - and long has been - working up options to address shortcomings in its business processes.

Migration of business functions to a new operating platform is a task the bank will have to finally complete. How and when, and with more details on the costs and benefits, is something NAB followers will want to know more about next year.

And what might the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority do with NAB's PAIRS and SOARS ratings?

These are the two scores the regulator keeps that informs it as to whether it should just read the bank's reports or seize control and prosecute the board.