National Australia Bank chairman quits

A forex trading scandal at National Australia Bank has claimed its second scalp with the resignation of chairman Mr Charles …

A forex trading scandal at National Australia Bank has claimed its second scalp with the resignation of chairman Mr Charles Allen.

Australia's biggest bank said today Mr Allen would be replaced by Mr Graham Kraehe following A$252 million (€156.3 million) in shock trading losses at the bank and the departure of former chief executive Mr Frank Cicutto.

Mr Kraehe is the former chief executive of wine group Southcorp Holdings and will work alongside the bank's new chief executive, Mr John Stewart.

Mr Kraehe, who joined as a non-executive director in 1997, is chairman of the board's risk committee.

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The management shake-up follows a series of setbacks in recent years, including the forex trading losses and a botched share raid on takeover target AMP.

National stunned the market on January 13th when it revealed it had discovered unauthorised trades in foreign-exchange options tied to a bet on a rebound in the US dollar that went sour.

The bank suspended four currency-options traders pending the outcome of internal and external inquiries into how its trading limits were breached.