They Come From the Financial Crisis Down Under: Aussie Bankers Trek to S.F. on Company Dime

If you're out this weekend and you encounter a swarm of tanned suits calling each other mate, it might just be the National Australia Bank executives on holiday  attending an all-expense-paid leadership conference in San Francisco.

According to the Australian publication Business Day, the trip will cost share-holders hundreds of thousands of dollars, including roundtrip Quantas business class airfares of 14,600 Australian dollars a head (that's $9,466 American). Although the trip has apparently been planned for months, it happens to be taking place during a financial meltdown that has halved share prices across Australia's banking industry  (and everybody else's).

NAB doesn't have any operations in California, although a spokeswoman for the company told Business Day that some of the execs would be meeting with investors here in San Fran. She did not say whether or not the execs would be doing hard drugs or hiring hookers to smear with vegemite.