As a result, NAB now banks about one-third of Australia’s medical profession. Ms Marinkovic said the partnership would allow the bank to offer a range of specialised finance products to Avant’s members.
While general practitioners have seen steady incomes during the lockdowns, Ms Marinkovic said allied health professionals including dentists and physiotherapists had seen a “really sharp drop” in turnover, in some cases as high as 80 per cent.
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“What we have seen is the recovery for these businesses is super quick, super rapid. People are super fast to book their appointments,” she said.
However, the hardest-hit industries from COVID-19 continue to be the hospitality and tourism sectors and while NAB continues to offer business owners loan deferrals or restructures, Ms Marinkovic acknowledged there would be a portion that would not survive.
“We’ve already had some really difficult conversations with customers,” she said. “Them getting into more debt is probably not the most suitable solution for them.
“And, of course, if the lockdowns were to continue at this rate, there will absolutely be businesses in those impacted sectors that will reach the end of the line.”
However, Ms Marinkovic said NAB would continue to offer tailored assistance to its business customers and was optimistic the majority would survive. She called on Australians to “shop local” and get vaccinated.
“I am absolutely hopeful with the vaccination push, the reopening plan [and] the real willingness of the banking industry and the government to work together to prop up small business that we will see better conditions in the new year,” she said. “We are still not at that stage where we are seeing a mass exodus of small business, or mass shutdowns.”
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