National Australia Bank names Leslie Raymond head of people, Asia

Ms Leslie Raymond has been appointed Head of People, Asia in National Australia Bank (NAB) and commenced her role on 1 March 2017. Ms Raymond is based in NAB’s Hong Kong branch located in Pacific Place. Ms Raymond replaces Ms Kate Colley who has repatriated to Melbourne to assume the role of Head of People for NAB’s Corporate and Institutional Banking business.

As Australia’s largest business bank, NAB’s strategy in Asia focuses on supporting Australian and New Zealand businesses in Asia. With over 40 years in Asia and as the first Australian bank to establish a presence in China in 1982, NAB also supports Asian corporate and institutional clients connected to its home markets of Australia and New Zealand.

NAB offers financial solutions and advice in its areas of expertise that include: capital markets, capital financing, asset servicing and fixed income, commodities and currencies. The bank’s industry specialisations span across the agribusiness, food, energy, resources, infrastructure and utilities sectors. NAB also offers specialised services for banks, diversified financial institutions, funds and insurance.

With extensive international and strategic leadership experience in Human Resources in Asia, North America and Switzerland, Ms Raymond has the strong expertise and insights necessary to deliver NAB’s business priorities in Asia and its vision of being Australia and New Zealand’s most respected bank in this region.

Ms Raymond joins NAB from Air New Zealand where she was Human Resources Director, Asia for the past 2 years, based in Shanghai. In that role she was responsible for to ensuring that the organisation’s HR strategy was aligned with overall business strategy and growth.

Prior to Air New Zealand, Ms Raymond held leadership roles at Bacardi-Martini Asia Pacific and Schindler China where she had a strong track record of providing strategic direction for all policies and procedures relating to HR as well as attracting, retaining and motivating high performing talents.

Fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese, Ms Raymond is a member of the International Coach Federation.

NAB Head of People, Corporate and Institutional Banking, Ms Kate Colley, said, “At NAB we want to be Australia and New Zealand’s most respected bank – a key way we can achieve this is to understand and support our valued people by making it easy for them to reach their career and life goals. With Leslie on board, I am confident that we can effectively implement our global people development culture and initiatives in Asia.”