NAB faces KPMG whistleblower scrutiny, cocaine allegations
The bank was scolded in Canberra last week for its whistleblower program amid allegations drugs were used at one of its Christmas parties.
A police sniffer dog sparked panic among a group of managers at NAB during an alleged drinking and drug-taking session at North Sydney’s Greenwood Hotel.
One pub attendee, who worked as a contractor at NAB between 2021 and 2025, later had a whistleblower complaint about his sacking rejected by NAB’s KPMG FairCall Whistleblower Protection Program in September 2025.
The complaint was dismissed by KPMG on the basis it was solely about the handling of his termination and how it was communicated. The complaint, at the time, didn’t include the allegations of cocaine abuse by a senior manager at the pub.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“We have reviewed the information provided and advise that as it is a personal work-related grievance (related directly to your employment with NAB and having implications for you personally) it falls outside the scope of the Whistleblower Protection Program,” the complainant was told by email.
Instead the complainant was informed he could raise any grievance about the manner of his termination, or workplace culture, by contacting NAB’s internal Employee Assistance Program.
The Whistleblower Program operated by scandal-plagued KPMG on behalf of NAB was slammed by Labor Senator Deborah O’Neill last Friday, who demanded regulator ASIC investigate every corporation using the consultancy’s outsourced services to assess whistleblower complaints.
‘Blown away’ politician demands answers
On May 29, KPMG Australia’s chief executive Andrew Yates and National Managing Partner for Audit, Julian McPherson, resigned after a Parliamentary Senate Committee heard the firm failed to address a whistleblower’s concerns flagging misconduct at the consultancy’s own practice.
The whistleblower alleged employees at KPMG took confidential documents from construction company Lendlease and used them to help the accounting firm win more clients.
Last Friday, Senator Deborah O’Neill told ASIC Commissioner Kate O’Rourke she was ”blown away” KPMG still has responsibility for assessing NAB’s whistleblower complaints.
“There are many companies it seems think, or maybe thought, KPMG knew how to do it (whistleblowing) right,” said Ms O’Neil at the Parliamentary Joint Committee hearing on Corporations and Financial Services.
“Frankly, I’d assert that the evidence we have at this point in time, and I expect it will continue to show, that the speak up culture (at KPMG) was a failure.”
In response, ASIC’s Commissioner agreed the regulator would investigate how many companies KPMG currently provides outsourced whistleblowing services to, their merits, and whether they were truly independent of their clients.
“A little bit of digging (by the parliamentary committee) so far has revealed the RBA and ASX actually avail themselves of this whistleblowing service, which just blows my mind,” said Senator O’Neill. “And I don’t know how long they’ve been providing that service.”
As at June 2026, NAB’s KPMG Whistleblower Protection program is still in operation and promises NAB staff it takes all wrongdoing concerns seriously.
Both ASIC and the Senate Committee are set to investigate how independent KPMG is of its clients in providing the service to clients such as NAB and Westpac.
“It does raise a question about the independence of the providers of whistleblowing services and being seen to be independent,” said Liberal Party Senator for Queensland Paul Scarr.
Cocaine thrown away
Text messages between former NAB staff seen by The Nightly appear to confirm that one senior manager in the financial advice business threw away a bag of cocaine at Sydney’s Greenwood pub after seeing police arrive with a sniffer dog late at night.
The tossed drugs sparked panic among colleagues who were unclear if they landed in the bushes surrounding the pub’s outdoor courtyard, or at the feet, of other innocent staff.
According to the text messages, employees aware of the incident, at a Christmas 2022 party, turned a blind eye to it on the basis the senior manager, retained some power at the bank.
“He (the senior manager) and ----- had been ducking off to the toilets together all day, and I didn’t realise ---- knew about it” read one message with a laughing emoji attached.
“----- threw his bag of coke under the feet of ---- when the police showed up with a sniffer dog,” read another message.
NAB’s workplace culture is under intense scrutiny after two staff committed suicide in early 2026.
In response to the allegations NAB said it won’t comment on individual cases. It also said details on its Whistleblower Program operated by KPMG are available to all staff on its website.
“I worked for many large banks and institutions in the past and NAB or my area definitely had the most toxic culture I ever came across,” the complainant told The Nightly.
“I would never reach out if it wasn’t for at least two people taking their own lives.”
After making the complaint about his termination the financial advice professional was not offered an interview to detail his complaint any further under KPMG’s FairCall Whisteblower Program.
The complainant also alleges some of NAB’s customers received inadequate remediation due to unrealistic expectations imposed on assessors who were tasked with reviewing instances of inappropriate financial advice at the bank.
