NAB shuts down controversial social media site

NAB Corporate Affairs spokesperson Luisa Ford told iTnews that myfuturebank.org was always scheduled for closure today.

“It was an experiment to gather data, and we’ve gathered all the data we need,” said Ford. “It was always scheduled to run for a few weeks.”

The website’s aim was to provide a forum for feedback and criticism about banking experiences as part of its new offering, UBank.

The website read in part, “We need your help. Please share with us and our visitors what frustrates you about your bank, and more importantly, what you would do differently to improve your banking experience.”

But social media commentators have alleged that NAB employees posed as anonymous customers in order to admonish those who criticised the bank.

NAB said that there were no authorised attempts to market UBank by NAB employees contributing to independent blogs.

“If NAB responds to a blog entry, the contributor is clearly identified as a member of our organisation to ensure transparency with the public.

“Any unidentified comments are unauthorised and are not necessarily the view of the bank. NAB has not authorised marketing activity on any other blog sites for the promotion of UBank.”

The website was built by Loaded Tech, which also owns the domain name. According to a Loaded Tech staff member, once the project was completed, all control was managed by NAB.

Staff at Loaded Tech were under strict orders not to comment to the media today, but one staff member expressed surprise that the website had been taken down so quickly.

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