The National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) share price had been a strong performer on Thursday and was trading over 1% higher at $24.93 being paused from trading pending a market sensitive announcement.
Why is the NAB share price in a trading halt?
According to the trading halt request, the bank has requested the halt pending an announcement regarding leadership changes.
It has requested that the trading halt remain in place until the release of an announcement to the market, which is expected to be later today.
What's happening?
Whilst at this stage it is unclear what changes are being made, it seems quite likely to be in relation to the banking giant's embattled CEO Andrew Thorburn.
In fact, just yesterday Mr Thorburn told the ABC's The Business show that he did not know if he would still have the job by the end of the week.
He told the ABC that: "I can't confirm that. But I can tell you that I am more committed and more deeply determined than ever to be a strong leader for our company."
Why is he under fire?
The Royal Commission final report heavily criticised NAB's leadership team.
Kenneth Hayne wrote that: "Having heard from both the CEO, Mr Thorburn, and the chair, Dr Henry, I am not as confident as I would wish to be that the lessons of the past have been learned."
In addition to this, the bank's underperformance has angered shareholders, leading to them voting against the remuneration report in record numbers last year.
What now?
Ordinarily the changing of the CEOs goes down very poorly with investors. But in this instance, if Mr Thorburn has in fact stepped down, I would not be surprised to see NAB's shares push higher.
Further coverage will come when NAB releases its full statement.
