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Instead, the FSU called for a 10 per cent cut in planner bonuses, and for staff records to be changed, arguing this would be consistent with comments to the commission from Andrew Hagger, NAB's chief customer officer for consumer and wealth.

The union emphasised that Mr Hagger last month told the commission he had informed the NAB board the false witnessing problems were both a "failure of discipline" and a "cultural matter."

'One rule for the bosses and another for the staff'

It also pointed out Mr Hagger agreed with counsel assisting the commission that senior management were "accountable for setting the tone and culture," and that the culture had failed to ensure advisers "upheld the high standards we expect of them."

Yet the letter, addressed to NAB's general manager of financial planning Tim Steele, argued the responsibility for cultural failure appeared to have laid "exclusively on the employees." Mr Hagger's bonus was cut by 5 per cent, or $60,000, over the issue. Mr Hagger's total statutory remuneration was $3.5 million.  Mr Steele's bonus was cut by 10 per cent, the FSU said.

“This is a clear case of the NAB having one rule for the bosses and another for the staff,” said the FSU's national secretary Julia Angrisano.

“The bosses told the NAB Board the problem was systemic and cultural but they told the union it was the responsibility of the employees,” Ms Angrisano said.

A NAB spokeswoman responded the bank had a strict code of conduct and it took breaches "very seriously".

"As we said when we publicly disclosed the Beneficiary Nomination Forms matter in May 2017, and consistent with our submission to the Royal Commission, where we find issues, we will investigate them, we will fix them, and we will improve our systems and processes to prevent them from re-occurring," she said.

Consequences

"It is appropriate that employees who participated in the incorrect witnessing of forms faced consequences, including financial consequences, based on the seriousness of the matter, as has senior leadership."

NAB's response to Fairfax Media did not address the FSU's call for planners to be repaid bonuses that been confiscated as penalties, but the bank is expected to respond to the union by early next week. It is understood some managers in the area lost all of their bonuses over the issue.