AWARDS Best bank for Australian dollar: National Australia Bank

Winning the award for Best Bank for Australian Dollar once could be down to having an exceptional year, but winning twice in a row shows consistency in delivering services while maintaining the focus on your clients.

National Australia Bank now falls into the second category, having secured the crown at the 2017 FX Week Best Banks Awards in the Aussie dollar category.

“We have worked hard to deliver a consistent global pricing and service model across all centres, and that requires a collaborative commitment by the FX execution, sales and research teams,” says Drew Bradford, executive general manager for fixed income, currencies and commodities at NAB. “We have maintained a dedicated, very experienced voice-execution team to work with our clients on more strategic solutions.”

The bank has invested heavily in technology to increase the automation and sophistication of its pricing and execution. This is increasingly becoming a key differentiator as more customers seek to execute electronically, Bradford notes.

At the same time, NAB has invested in its digital and e-business teams, which have helped the firm to secure its present client base, as well as reaching out to new ones.

“Technology enhancements improve our efficiencies and help us deliver [a] better service to our customers. By automating more, we free up staff to focus on delivering our expertise in trading and research through deep client relationships. We continue to grow and improve our algorithms, which enable us to scale and expand our business,” Bradford says.

By automating more, we free up staff to focus on delivering our expertise in trading and research through deep client relationships

Drew Bradford, NAB

NAB has partnered transaction cost analysis provider BestX to give its clients third-party analytics services.

Bradford says the move is part of NAB’s broader commitment to the FX Global Code of Conduct, which recommends that market participants act honestly, fairly and with integrity. The partnership “is an opportunity to evidence our consistency and transparency through an independent third party”, he adds.

While NAB has experienced good growth in FX volumes in 2017, trading the Aussie has not been easy this year, with fewer opportunities compared with previous years.

“Whilst the Federal Reserve increased its cash rate a couple of times, the Reserve Bank of Australia kept rates unchanged, and contributed to keeping Australian FX and interest rates confined to the narrowest ranges in over 10 years,” Bradford says.

“This reduced clients’ incentive to mitigate risk and hedge, also reducing trading opportunities. The mild risk on environment continued for much of 2017, as equities maintained their stellar performance, which led to few opportunities to trade anything other than a range-bound FX market,” he adds.