A low-level contractor at NAB‘s fraud department attended a team meeting just moments before he took his own life from the roof of the bank’s Melbourne building.
The man, who has not been publicly identified, fell to his death from the top of one of the Big Four bank’s two skyscrapers in Docklands just after 2pm on March 5.
Colleagues said the young worker was highly employable with AI skills, and that he had transferred to NAB from rival Westpac about a year earlier.
The Daily Mail understands he went to a team meeting with an external company immediately prior to his death.
Sources with knowledge of the circumstances leading up to the tragedy claim the man had mental health issues of which NAB was not aware.
Staff members who saw the incident were left traumatised and given access to counselling services.
One witness previously said they were on the rooftop about half an hour prior to the incident, before leaving the building for lunch.
‘As we were walking back we looked up and watched the entire thing,’ they said.
A young man from NAB’s fraud sector died by suicide at the ‘Big Four’ bank’s headquarters in Docklands, Melbourne, on March 5 (the aftermath of the scene is pictured)
The NAB building in Docklands features a rooftop terrace with an open kitchen and herb garden (pictured). It is enclosed within a shoulder-high glass barrier
‘It happened too fast [that] I couldn’t think fast enough to look away, and it happened so slowly [that] I felt like I was stuck in place.’
They were traumatised after watching the man land on the pavement.
The Daily Mail has contacted NAB for comment.
It comes after several current and ex-employees spoke to the Mail about the bank’s alleged culture of bullying and harassment by senior staff. (It is not suggested the worker who committed suicide was a victim of bullying.)
One former staffer said he resorted to alcohol abuse in 2021 because of the same systemic abuse that drove his friend and colleague – a married father-of-three – to suicide almost a decade earlier.
Others say they were the victims of targeted redundancies for speaking out against the bank, or fired after being placed on performance improvement plans because unfair dismissal claims are often cheaper than redundancy payouts.
Another worker recalled being trapped in a small office and being verbally abused by a manager.
In response, a NAB spokesperson said: ‘We don’t always get it right, but we are committed to listening and creating an environment where our colleagues are heard.’
The worker from NAB’s fraud department took his life from the roof of the bank’s Docklands building (pictured) after a team meeting
The employee was highly employable with AI skills, colleagues said. (Pictured: Inside the NAB Docklands building)
Victoria Police confirmed it attended an incident in the Melbourne CBD on March 5.
The employee’s death is not being treated as suspicious.
‘Police will prepare a report for the coroner following the death of a man in Docklands on March 5,’ a police statement read.
‘The body of a man, who is yet to be formally identified, was located on Bourke Street about 2pm.’
If this has raised any issues for you, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636 for confidential crisis support.
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Tragic final moments of young NAB worker who attended a team meeting immediately before falling from Docklands skyscraper: ‘I couldn’t think fast enough to look away’