1858: Alexander Gibb, a Melbourne gentleman, enlisted Andrew Cruickshank, a local merchant and pastoralist, to raise the capital to establish National Bank of Australasia (NBA) with head quarters in Melbourne. Cruickshank became NBA's first chairman and Gibbs left after being passed over for the position of General Manager.
1859: NBA established a branch in Mauritius, but closed it within a year.
1864: NBA opened a branch in London to handle financing and payment for Australian exports of wool, gold and other commodities, and also imports to Australia. NBA also opened its first branch in Tasmania.
1893: NBA was one of the many banks that closed its doors during the banking crisis that year. It re-emerged as a public limited company, incorporated on June 23, 1893.
1918: The bank acquired Colonial Bank of Australasia (est. 1856), which brought additional branches in Victoria and New South Wales.
1922: The bank acquired Bank of Queensland (est. 1917), with its branches in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
1946: NBA opened a representative office in Tokyo that it upgraded to a branch in 1985.
1948: The bank acquired the Queensland National Bank (est. 1872), with its branches in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. The Bank of Queensland was the result of the merger in 1917 of Royal Bank of Queensland (est. 1886) and Bank of North Queensland (est. 1888).
1955: The bank acquired Ballarat Banking Company (est. 1865) in Victoria.
1971: NBA opened a branch in Singapore.
1973: NBA opened a representative office and took a minority interest in a merchant bank in Jakarta. It withdrew from the merchant bank in 1984.
1974: NBA opened a representative office in Hong Kong that it upgraded to a branch in 1985. It also took a minority position in a merchant bank in Kuala Lumpur from which it withdrew in 1984.
1977: NBA entered the US with a branch and an agency in Los Angeles that it closed in 1993.
1978: NBA and Mitsubishi Bank and Trust established a 50-50 joint venture merchant bank in Hong Kong, but withdrew in 1984.
1981: In 1981 NBA merged with the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney to form National Australia Bank (NAB).
1982: NAB opened a branch in Chicago and a representative office in Beijing.
1983: NAB opened a representative office in Dallas and another in Seoul that it upgraded to branch in 1990.
1984: NAB opened a representative office in San Francisco, another in Kuala Lumpur, and a third in Athens that it closed in 1989.
1985: NAB opened a representative office in Frankfurt that it closed in 1992.
1986: NAB opened a representative office in Atlanta, another in Bangkok, and a third in Taipei that it upgraded to a branch in 1990.
2001: NAB sold HomeSide’s operating assets for US$1.9b to Washington Mutual, the largest US savings and loan company, as well as the mortgage unit's loan-servicing technology and operating platform. NAB booked two write-downs associated with the US subsidiary, HomeSide. First, in July 2001, NAB had a $450 million write down of the value of its capitalized mortgage servicing rights (CMSRs) during the quarter ending June 30, 2001, and was the result of exceptionally high mortgage refinance volumes which lowered the value of the CMSRs, combined with a more challenging capital markets environment in which to hedge interest rate risk. This was followed shortly by a second write-down reported in September totalling $1.75 billion; this second write-down consisted of US$400 million from an incorrect interest rate assumption embedded in the mortgage servicing rights valuation model, US$760 million from changed assumptions in the model flowing from the continued unprecedented uncertainty and turbulence in the mortgage servicing market, and US$590 million from writing off of the goodwill. In total, NAB booked $2.2 billion in losses due to HomeSide.
2004: National@Docklands new flagship development officially opened at Melbourne Docklands.
2005: After ingoring complaints about overcharging for 24 years, the bank is forced, by Australian Banking and Financial Services Ombudsman Colin Neave, to investigate complaints of overcharging. The result of this investigation is that the bank repays customer in excess of 80 million dollars. Although the bank had received 50 complaints a month it did not investigate the matter of it's own accord. target: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/bank-owns-up-to-80m-fee-blunder/2005/07/28/1122143968442.html
