The National Australia Bank says banking is a profession based on 'trust, respect and integrity' but acknowledges past failures.
NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn has struggled to explain to a parliamentary committee why no senior executives lost their jobs after misconduct by financial planners was discovered.
The financial planning scandal saw 43 NAB planners leave the company between 2010 and 2015 due to misconduct, 41 of whom were dismissed.
"We had compensated customers $15 million," Mr Thorburn said.
"We had gone through and found issues ourselves and had addressed them.
"I think that is important, that we are constantly looking for issues and we're addressing them and compensating customers."
But it wasn't until Labor’s deputy committee chair, Matt Thistlethwaite, grilled the bank boss on five financial planners who were banned by corporate regulator Australian Securities and Investment Commission that Mr Thorburn offered a public apology to NAB's customers.
NAB chief grilled at parliamentary inquiry into Australia's big four banks. pic.twitter.com/nwWREBnuIR — SBS News (@SBSNews) October 6, 2016
"I've met with a number of them and when I read and hear the stories I'm extremely disappointed," Mr Thorburn said.
"I have apologised to the customers, particularly in the financial advise part of the business."
He told the House of Representatives economics committee a breakdown in "trust" and "confidence" had taken place.
'I have apologised and do so again.'
The NAB said it now spends more time trying to understand why customers are struggling to pay off loans and helping them to get back on track - rather than just recovering its money.
Mr Thorburn also explained how loan rates were set, conceding the bank company had never made clear why mortgages and other loans weren't directly linked to changes in the Reserve Bank cash rate.
"We have not been clear enough that our mortgage and other lending products are not and have never been directly linked to the cash rate," he said.
"To our customers I acknowledge that we have not always delivered as well as we could or should have. We must do better."
Westpac boss 'working to close trust gap'
Westpac boss Brian Hartzer concedes a "trust-gap" has opened up in recent years between the banks and their customers.
He told a parliamentary hearing the industry and individual banks needed to work harder to close that gap.
"Westpac isn't perfect, in recent years we have had operational errors and we apologise for this," he told the House of Representatives economics committee in Canberra on Thursday.
Westpac has had to make some difficult decisions on pricing and admitted at times it hadn't done a good job communicating why it made those decisions.
"We are working hard to improve," Mr Hartzer said.
With AAP
