Mr Joiner also warned of extra costs as a result of global capital and liquidity reforms to cut the risk of another financial crisis

With short-term wholesale funding no longer an option under the new rules, NAB had to raise a further $45 billion-$50bn of long-term debt just to maintain the size of its loan book, let alone grow it, he said

Responding to a question, he sounded a sombre note on housing prices, saying they were unlikely to rise because prices were "out of step" with international trends and affordability was very low.

The commentary is likely to annoy Commonwealth Bank and Westpac, which have much larger mortgage books than NAB.

The Sydney-based banks have often argued that the domestic market is supported by strong migration and a shortage of housing stock. But Mr Joiner said that when he advanced such arguments to international investors, they responded that he sounded like the CFOs of Irish banks.

"People will realise that taking a 2 per cent pre-tax yield on renting a house that isn't going up in value doesn't make sense if you are paying 7-8 per cent for the associated loan," he said.

People were likely to "fall out of love" with property, as they would with equities, with offshore investors generally of the view that local stocks had "had their run".