Slow response the surprise for NAB

Had NAB resolved the Wednesday night payments processing mess on Thursday the importance of the episode would be much more muted than it is proving to be.

ATM and Eftpos services for affected customers would work okay if they were only one day late, and the significance of the severity of the problem might not be noted.

As the delays extended into the weekend, the bank had to open branches, and customer advice proved, at times, to be incorrect.

So, instead there is the beginnings of a customer backlash, there is a spotlight on the bank's aptitude for crisis management and questions over the direction of its investment priorities.
 
Any backlash may be muted however much encouragement there may be from the media, whether old or social. Banks are resilient in the face of the waves of disdain for their industry, as the recent approach to repricing home loans demonstrates.

Also, it's a pain to change banks and most who say they are thinking of doing so end up staying where they are.

NAB's crisis response was reasonable but leaves questions hanging.

Why open only 127 branches out of 741 in Australia, and why open few, or none, in low-income locations?

Perhaps NAB thought this was enough, or perhaps that was all the bank could staff.